About 31 million smartphone users in India are expect to upgrade to 5G smartphones by December 2023, a report by Ericsson underlining the pace at which the world’s second largest telecom market is adopting the ultra high-speed services.
Ericsson estimates the current base of 5G phones users in India to be between 80 and 100 million.
5G services was launch in India in October 2022 by PM Modi, and the past months have seen a rapid rollout of these services across the length and breadth of the country by operators like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.
Ericsson’s Consumer Lab’s Global Survey release and said that 5G users in India stand out for their high quality daily engagement with apps, such as streaming high definition video, video calling services, mobile gaming and augmented reality (AR).
On an average, Indian 5G users spend two more hours per week using these services compare to users in other early adopter 5G markets such as the US, the UK, South Korea, China and many others.
Other key finding of the report was that India’s 5G satisfaction levels rival or surpass 5G early adopter markets.
As per Ericsson report :
"A total of 15 percent of Indian consumers are interested in adding application bundles, including video on demand, gaming and music, to their 5G plans, even at a higher cost. They are prepared to pay a 14 percent premium for these services,".
And demand for larger data plans remains the most prominent expectation among consumers for 5G plans, as 31% of 5G users tend to deplete their data allocations by the end of the month.
While 58% of 5G users find themselves with more than 30GB of unused data by the month’s end.
As per Ericsson report :
"This suggests a clear need for service providers to explore more innovative approaches in crafting their 5G monetisation strategy beyond just offering higher data allowances to better align with consumer preferences and usage patterns,".
As 5G coverage expands in India, there is a significant opportunity to unlock greater value.
Ericsson report said :
"By offering segmented 5G propositions using QoS (quality of service) offerings, providers can tap into the 22% of smartphone users who express interest and are willing to pay a 13% premium for such enhance experiences,".
As Ookla said the launch of 5G services in India turbocharge mobile download speeds here, pushing the country’s ranking 72 notches higher to 47th spot in Speedtest Global Index, ahead of nations like Japan, the UK and Brazil.
India’s speed performance has increase 3.59 times since the introduction of 5G, Ookla said dubbing the country’s 5G advancement as “remarkable”.
India rank not only ahead of its neighbours like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, but also some G20 countries likes of Mexico (90th rank), Turkey (68th rank), the UK (62nd rank), Japan (58th rank), Brazil (50th rank), and South Africa (48th rank).
