NEW DELHI: There is a need for subsidising 5G mobile devices to lead faster adoption of the 5G network in India, said a Nokia senior executive. According to Amit Marwah, head of marketing and corporate affairs (CMO) for Nokia India, consumer upgrades to 5G devices are also a factor.
“We have around 150 million 5G capable devices in India, of which, let’s say 130 million or 135 million are already using the 5G network. That’s very good. However, the reason why 150 million users can’t become 300 million is the consumer decision to buy a new device. Unless devices are subsidized, it won’t happen automatically here. Consumers decide when they want to buy a 5G phone. If they’re happy with the 4G network and phones, they might take longer to upgrade. Typically, people change their devices every two to three years,” said Marwah.
India officially launched 5G services in October 2022, and since then two telecom companies Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have been rapidly rolling out 5G networks, making it one of the fastest 5G rollouts globally.
The Finnish company, in its annual MBiT Report for 2024 released on Wednesday, mentioned that India had 131 million 5G users by December 2023, while 4G users still dominate the market at 724 million. The report also expects the 5G user base to reach 575 million by 2026.
The report suggests that around 17% of active 4G devices (approximately 134 million) are already 5G capable. This means there’s a significant existing user base that could potentially switch to 5G with the right incentives. There are still a substantial 796 million users on 4G devices.
The report also mentioned that 5G users in India are using approximately 3.6 times as much mobile data traffic compared to 4G since its launch in October 2022. The users spend their data mostly on watching videos and uploading content.