The 5G subscriptions in India will touch 500 million by 2027-end, accounting for 39 per cent of mobile subscribers, according to a report by Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson.
The commercial launches of 5G networks are planned for the second half of 2022 in India, with enhanced mobile broadband expected to be the initial main use case, the Ericsson Mobility Report said.
5G will represent around 39 per cent of mobile subscriptions in the region at the end of 2027, with about 500 million subscriptions, it predicted.
“Total mobile data traffic in the India region is estimated to grow by a factor of four between 2021 and 2027. This is driven by high growth in the number of smartphone users and an increase in average usage per smartphone,” Thiaw Seng Ng, Head of Network Evolution, SEA, Oceania and India at Ericsson said.
The average data traffic per smartphone in the India region is the second highest globally.
Further, it is projected to rise from 20 GB per month in 2021 to around 50 GB per month in 2027, growing at 16 per cent CAGR.
In India, where 5G deployments have yet to begin, 5G is expected to account for nearly 40 percent of all subscriptions by 2027. In global terms, 5G is forecast to account for almost half of all subscriptions by 2027, topping 4.4 billion subscriptions.
North America is expected to lead the world in 5G subscription penetration in the next five years with nine-of-every-ten subscriptions in the region expected to be 5G, by 2027.
According to a new study from research consultancy Omdia sponsored by Ericsson, over half (52 per cent) of Indian enterprises surveyed want to start using 5G within the next 12 months.
A further 31 per cent expect to use 5G by 2024.