The number of subscriptions to India’s 5G services, which are likely to be rolled out from later this year, is expected to reach about 500 million, or 39% of all mobile subscribers, by 2027, telecom equipment maker Ericsson said in a report on Tuesday.
Noting that 4G was currently the dominant subscription type driving connectivity growth in India, Ericsson said in its Mobility Report (June 2022) that the commercial introduction of 5G networks was planned for the second half of 2022, with enhanced mobile broadband expected to initially be the main use case.
“With increasing availability and affordability of 5G smartphones, along with rapid adoption of smartphones in urban and rural areas, 5G subscriptions are expected to rapidly increase to reach around 50 million in the region by the end of 2023,” it said, adding that 5G would represent about 39% of mobile subscriptions in the region at the end of 2027, with about 500 million subscriptions.
As subscribers migrate to 5G, 4G subscriptions were forecast to decline annually to an estimated 700 million in 2027, it added.
“Total mobile data traffic in the India region is estimated to grow by a factor of 4 between 2021 and 2027,” said Thiaw Seng Ng, Head of Network Evolution, SEA, Oceania and India, Ericsson. “This is driven by high growth in the number of smartphone users and an increase in average usage per smartphone,” he added.
The average data traffic per smartphone in the India region is the second highest globally, and is projected to grow to about 50GB per month in 2027 from 20GB per month in 2021 – a CAGR of 16%, Ericsson added.
The company further added that while India presented significant opportunities for growth, it also held challenges for service providers. It pointed out that ARPU (average revenue per user) for telcos remained low despite a recent increase in the price of data (the average price of 1GB of mobile data reached $0.68 in 2021). “Moreover, India has some of the highest prices for spectrum in the world, constraining service providers’ ability to invest in infrastructure,” it said.
