Will 5G new calling breathe new life into mobile voice services?

5G new calling (NC) is still in its infancy, with early developments mostly confined to China. However, it will likely capture growing interest outside China in 2024 and beyond. In this report, we review the state of the technology and consumers’ interest in its features.

China is an early adopter of 5G NC. China Mobile has reached around 5 million users, having launched commercial services in late 2023. Beyond China, Zain Kuwait is also working on introducing 5G NC. While China on its own is a big market (nearly 1 billion 5G connections expected by the end of 2024), wider acceptance of 5G NC is needed to make the service a truly global story.

When asked about the features that would be most appealing when making voice calls from mobile phones, consumers ranked real-time speech translation as the top feature in all the markets we surveyed except in the US (where it ranked second). Content sharing ranked second, followed by the ability to access a web browser view while on a voice call. Interactive communication with businesses ranked fourth.