Five billion people are now connected to mobile networks, representing two-thirds of the world's population, a new report said.

The GSMA today published its second annual 'Global Mobile Trends' report, which provides exclusive data and analysis on the key trends shaping the future of the mobile ecosystem.

The GSMA published the new report at Mobile World Congress Americas held in San Francisco this week. Built on its intelligence data and produced by in-house team of industry analysts, the report maps out how future networks and operator business models are evolving within a rapidly shifting industry landscape, said Laxmi Akkaraju, Chief Strategy Officer at the GSMA.

Though the mobile user population is large, growth is slowing; it took four years to move from 4 billion to 5 billion subscribers and connecting the next billion will take longer still.

Meanwhile, smartphone and mobile broadband growth is driving mobile Internet usage and engagement, and new form factors are emerging beyond the smartphone.

Industry excitement around 5G overlooks the fact that 4G still has plenty of headroom for future growth. 4G is forecast to account for two-thirds of global mobile connections by 2025 (up from around a quarter today), driven by increasing 4G adoption over this period in major emerging markets such as Brazil, India and Indonesia. 

 A paradigm shift in network architecture is required to support the shift to 5G and Internet of Things, requiring the creation of decentralized networks that combine a number of network technologies (e.g. small cells, LPWA), using software-controlled network functions, and running over both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. Edge computing and network slicing will be needed to support major 5G applications.

However, investors have yet to price in a growth premium for converged telco-media plays, which continue to be valued significantly below major tech players. The quintet of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Netflix have collectively grown enterprise value 3.5x since 2010, with large telecoms operators remaining relatively flat over this period.