Ericsson said that India will have 860 million subscribers in the 5G segment by end-2029
5G subscriptions in India are expected to reach 130 million by the end of 2023 and are forecast to grow to 860 million by 2029, according to the latest edition of the Ericsson Mobility report.
Ericsson noted that 5G subscriptions in India are estimated to account for 68% of mobile subscriptions in the country by the end of 2029.
The Swedish vendor noted that India is seeing substantial 5G network deployments following the launch of 5G services by local carriers Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm in October 2022.
According to the report, 4G continues to be the dominant mobile technology in India. However, as subscribers migrate to 5G, 4G subscriptions are forecast to decline from 870 million this year to 390 million by 2029. Total mobile subscriptions in the country are expected to grow to 1.27 billion in 2029.
Nitin Bansal, head of Ericsson India, stated: “Ericsson together with our partners has enabled one of the fastest 5G network deployments across the world and today we are seeing strong 5G adoption in the country. Mobile networks continue to play a pivotal role in driving social and economic inclusion in India, thereby supporting the government’s vision to transform the country into a digitally empowered society.”
The Ericsson Mobility report also noted that the average data traffic per smartphone in India is projected to grow from 31 GB per month in 2023 to around 75 GB per month in 2029 – a CAGR of 16%. Also, Ssmartphone subscriptions in India as a percentage of total mobile subscriptions are expected to grow from 82% this year to 93% in 2029.
The number of global 5G subscriptions is expected to be 1.6 billion by the end of this year, accounting for 18% of all mobile subscriptions, according to Ericsson.
Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm are currently providing 5G connectivity in thousands of towns and cities across India, while the government previously confirmed that state-run telco BSNL will be in a position to launch 5G in 2024.
Last month, Vodafone Idea said in its website that it was already offering 5G services in select locations in Pune and Delhi.
As of now, Vodafone Idea has not officially disclosed its 5G rollout plan.
On its website, Vodafone Idea stated that Vodafone users “can experience seamless connectivity with VI 5G Ready SIM” in selected areas of Pune and Delhi.
In August, Vodafone Idea successfully tested 5G services using both the 26 GHz and 3.3 GHz bands in Pune, in a bid to meet the minimum rollout obligations stipulated by India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
Vodafone Idea’s CEO Akshaya Moondra recently said during the company’s latest earnings call that the carrier will miss the minimum rollout obligations in 15 out of the 17 telecom circles where it acquired spectrum in the July 2022 5G spectrum auction.
