A new forecast suggests that the Philippines is about five years away from a major shift in mobile technology. By 2030, more people in the country are expected to be using 5G than 4G.
The prediction comes from a research group called GlobalData. They also looked at how much money mobile service providers will make. Their estimate shows that annual revenue from mobile services should go from about $4 billion in 2025 to over $5 billion by 2030. That is a yearly average growth of just under 5%.
Why the increase? People are using their phones for more than just calls. In fact, money from traditional voice calls is expected to keep falling. The study says voice revenue will drop by nearly 10% each year between now and 2030. Meanwhile, money from mobile data, like video streaming and gaming, will grow at a rate of 6% per year.
The average person used about 8.9GB in 2025. By 2030, that number is expected to jump to 15.3G . The reason is simple: people love watching high-quality videos and playing online games on their smartphones. These activities need a lot of data and keep users online longer.
For the next few years, 4G will still be the most common connection. GlobalData says that will remain true until 2028. But after that, 5G will take over. By the end of 2030, the report says 5G will make up 61% of all mobile subscriptions in the country. That means 77 out of every 100 Filipinos will likely have access to 5G by then.