India to boast 500 million 5G users by end of 2027, report says

Estimates show that by the end of 2027, 5G will represent around 39 percent of mobile subscriptions in India with an estimated 500 million subscriptions, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report for November 2021 that was issued on Tuesday.

The report noted that 4G would remain the dominant technology in India in 2027, but its subscriptions are forecast to drop from 790 million in 2021 to 710 million in 2027, showing an annual average decline of 2 percent. Thus, 4G subscriptions are expected to reduce from 68 percent of mobile subscriptions in 2021 to 55 percent in 2027 as subscribers migrate to 5G.

As such, the number of smartphone subscriptions is expected to be 810 million at the end of 2021 and is projected to grow at a Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7 percent, reaching over 1.2 billion by 2027.

In addition, smartphone subscriptions accounted for 70 percent of total mobile subscriptions in 2021 and are projected to constitute around 94 percent in 2027, pushed by rapid smartphone adoption in the country.

”5G will become the fastest deployed mobile generation to date…enhanced with an updated estimate of close to 660 million 5G subscriptions by the end of this year. The increase is due to stronger than expected demand in China and North America, driven partly by decreasing prices of 5G devices,” Patrik Cerwall, Executive Editor of Ericsson Mobility Report.

“There was also a net addition of 98 million 5G subscriptions globally in the third quarter of 2021, compared to 48 million new 4G subscriptions. At the end of 2021, it is estimated that 5G networks will cover more than two billion people,” he added.

The deployment of 4G LTE networks has been crucial in generating 5.5 billion new smartphone connections worldwide, since 2011, contributing to the market availability of more than 20,000 different 4G device models.

Also, mobile network data traffic was up 42 per cent, year-on-year, in the third quarter of 2021 accounting for approximately 78 exabytes (EB), including traffic generated by Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services.

The reliance on mobile networks to stay connected and work from home has contributed to the average traffic per smartphone increasing to 18.4GB per month in 2021, up from 16.1GB per month in 2020, according to the report.

“The average traffic per smartphone in the India region is the second-highest globally and is projected to grow to around 50GB per month in 2027,” it added.