690 mn Indians to use 5G by 2028: Report

NEW DELHI: 5G will represent around 53 per cent of mobile subscriptions in India by 2028, with 690 million users, a new report showed on Wednesday.

5G subscriptions in India are expected to reach around 31 million by the end of this year, as telecom providers like Jio and Airtel continue to roll out 5G services across the country.

Average data traffic per smartphone in the country is projected to grow from 25GB per month in 2022 to around 54 GB per month in 2028, according to the latest ‘Ericsson Mobility Report’. The smartphone subscriptions in India as a percentage of total mobile subscriptions are expected to grow from 77 per cent this year to 94 per cent in 2028. 4G subscriptions are expected to peak in India in 2024 at around 930 million, and from there, will decline to an estimated 570 million by the year 2028, the report mentioned.

“5G will play a crucial role in achieving India’s digital inclusion goals especially for bringing broadband to rural and remote homes,” said Nitin Bansal, Head of Ericsson India and Head of Network Solutions for South east Asia, Oceania and India, Ericsson.

Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and fixed wireless access (FWA) are expected to be the early use-cases for 5G in India, “which will help address the concern of the limited fixed broadband penetration levels in the country and improve the data experience while on the move,” Bansal added.

The average data traffic per smartphone in the India region is the highest globally at the moment. Total mobile data traffic in the India region is estimated to grow from 18 EB per month in 2022 to 53 exabyte (EB) per month in 2028, growing at a CAGR of 19 per cent, said the report.

Global 5G subscriptions remain on track to top one billion by the end of this year, and five billion by the end of 2028, despite current and developing economic challenges in many parts of the world. On 5G, about 110 million subscriptions were added globally between July-September 2022, bringing the total to about 870 million globally.