Cisco Announces 2023 Internet Landscape Predictions
66% of the world's population is connected to the internet
5G to be 13 times faster than average mobile speed


It is projected that 5G will account for more than 10% of global mobile connections by 2023.

Cisco Systems announced this on the 5th while releasing the 'Cisco Annual Internet Report'.

The report predicted that the average 5G speed in 2023 would be 575 Mb (megabits) per second, which is 13 times faster than a standard mobile connection. In addition, it was predicted that 5G would provide mobile infrastructure supporting AI and IoT applications such as autonomous vehicles, smart cities, connected health, and immersive video.

In addition, the report stated that over the past 50 years, new mobile technologies incorporating cutting-edge innovations have emerged every decade, and the demand for mobile bandwidth, which was previously limited to voice calls and text messages, has evolved into various forms such as ultra-high-definition video and AR/VR applications.

Demand for mobile networks from both general consumers and corporate users is also increasing, and this trend is expected to become even more pronounced with the growing use of mobile applications.

In particular, mobile application downloads are expected to reach approximately 300 billion by 2023, with social networking, video streaming and downloads, work productivity, e-commerce, and game-related applications driving continued growth.

The following are the key points of the report.


66% of the world's population uses the Internet.
It is predicted that by 2023, the number of global internet users will reach 66% (5.3 billion) of the world's population. Domestic internet users are projected to increase from 92% (46.8 million people) of the total population in 2018 to 95% (48.8 million people) in 2023.

In addition, with over 70% of the world's population (over 5.7 billion people) expected to use mobile networks via 2G, 3G, LTE, or 5G by 2023, the number of mobile users in Korea is projected to increase from 87% (44.3 million people) of the total population in 2018 to 88% (45.1 million people).


The number of network-connected devices per person continues to increase.
It is projected that in 2023, the global population will own 3.6 network-connected devices per person and 10 network-connected devices per household. In particular, 47% of all network-connected devices are expected to support video playback.

In Korea, the number of personal network-connected devices per person is expected to nearly double from 6.7 in 2018 to 12.1 in 2023.

Machine-to-machine (M2M) connections supporting IoT applications are expected to reach 50% (14.7 billion) of network-connected devices worldwide.

Demand for M2M is expected to increase in Korea as well, and the proportion of M2M modules among all network-connected devices in Korea is projected to rise from 55% (190 million units) in 2018 to 69% (430 million units) in 2023.


55% of network connections, wired or Wi-Fi
45% of network-connected devices worldwide are expected to be mobile connections such as Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) or 5G. The remaining 55% will use a wired or wireless Wi-Fi connection.

In Korea, it is projected that 34% of all network-connected devices will be mobile, while the remaining 66% will use wired or wireless Wi-Fi.

While global 5G connections are expected to account for 10.6% of total mobile connections, domestic 5G connections are projected to account for an even higher 17.1%.

The share of LPWA in total mobile connections worldwide is expected to rise from 2.5% in 2018 to 14.4% in 2023. Domestically as well, it is expected to rise sharply from 10.0% in 2018 to 42.4% in 2023.


Public Wi-Fi zones to increase fourfold compared to 2018
The number of public Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide is expected to quadruple from 169 million in 2018 to approximately 628 million in 2023.

In Korea, the total number of public Wi-Fi hotspot areas, including home spots, is expected to double from 8.1 million to 16 million during the same period.

Public Wi-Fi 6 hotspot areas worldwide are expected to grow approximately 13-fold from 2020 to 2023 and account for 11% of all public Wi-Fi hotspot areas.


Wired and wireless network speeds become more than twice as fast
The average global mobile connection speed is expected to more than triple from 13 Mbps in 2018 to 44 Mbps in 2023, and Korea is projected to reach 76.7 Mbps, a twofold increase from 38.9 Mbps during the same period.

The average speed of Wi-Fi connections worldwide is expected to more than triple from 30 Mbps in 2018 to 92 Mbps in 2023, and Korea is also projected to more than triple from 51.6 Mbps to 160 Mbps during the same period.

The average speed of wired broadband connections worldwide is expected to more than double from 46 Mbps in 2018 to 110 Mbps in 2023, and Korea is also expected to double from 105.7 Mbps to 220.6 Mbps during the same period.

Meanwhile, the Cisco Annual Internet Report is produced by the Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) report development team and provides assessments of digital transformation as well as forecasts and analyses at global, regional, and national levels.