4G mobile technology is expected to remain dominant in India till 2027; however 4G subscriptions are forecast to drop from 790 million in 2021 to 710 million by then, showing an annual average decline of 2 per cent, said a report on Tuesday.
Thus, 4G subscriptions are expected to reduce from 68 per cent of mobile subscriptions in 2021 to 55 per cent in 2027 as subscribers migrate to 5G, the latest Ericsson Mobility Report has said.
Growth rate
The report highlighted that 5G will represent around 39 per cent of mobile subscriptions in India at the end of 2027, estimated at about 500 million subscriptions. The number of smartphone subscriptions is expected to be 810 million at the end of 2021 is projected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7 per cent, reaching over 1.2 billion by 2027, it said.
Socio-economic multiplier
Smartphone subscriptions accounted for 70 per cent of total mobile subscriptions in 2021 and are projected to constitute around 94 per cent in 2027, driven by rapid smartphone adoption in the country.
“It (5G) will serve as a socio-economic multiplier for the country and we are preparing communication service providers for a seamless introduction of 5G in the country based on our global deployment experience, our innovative and competitive 5G portfolio as well as the 5G trials we are doing with Indian operators to showcase the possibilities with 5G,” Nitin Bansal, Head of Ericsson India and Head of Network Solutions for South East Asia, Oceania and India, Ericsson, said.
Data traffic
The reliance on mobile networks to stay connected and work from home has contributed to the average traffic per smartphone increasing to 18.4 GB per month in 2021, up from 16.1 GB per month in 2020, he said.
The average traffic per smartphone in India is the second highest globally and is projected to grow to around 50 GB per month in 2027. Total mobile data traffic in India has grown from 9.4 EB per month in 2020 to 12 EB per month in 2021 and is projected to increase by more than four times to reach 49 EB per month in 2027, the report said.
5G trials
Ericsson recently carried out 5G trials with Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) where it demonstrated enhanced mobile broadband and fixed wireless access (FWA) use cases with 5G. Ericsson demonstrated speeds of 4Gbps with 5G during the trial with Vi in Pune.
The company also showcased the potential of 5G to revolutionise the healthcare sector by enabling remote diagnostics. The highlight of the trial with Bharti Airtel was the demonstration of over 200 Mbps throughput on 3GPP-compliant 5G FWA device at a distance of over 10 km from the site.
This translated into an inter-site coverage of around 20 km, thus offering the ability to provide high-speed broadband coverage even in the remotest of geographies, the company said.
