June 19, 2019
New Delhi: India region has the highest average usage per smartphone, reaching 9.8 gigabytes (GB) per month at the end of 2018, says Ericsson Mobility Report released here on Tuesday.
According to the report, the total mobile data traffic per month in India is expected to increase at a CAGR of 23 percent from 4.6 exabytes (EB) in 2018 to 16 EB by 2024.
The total smartphone subscriptions in the region will reach 1.1 billion by 2024 growing at 11 percent CAGR, whereas the total mobile broadband subscriptions in India are expected to grow at CAGR of 13 percent from about 610 million in 2018 to 1.25 billion in 2024. Mobile broadband technologies now make up more than 50 percent of subscriptions.
Briefing media about the report, Nitin Bansal, Head of Ericsson India and Head of Network Solutions, South East Asia, Oceania and India said LTE will remain the most dominant access technology in the region up to 2024 even as 5G subscriptions are expected to grow during this period.
”Based on the latest Consumer Lab study done by Ericsson, we have found that Indian smartphone users are willing to pay more than 66 percent premium for 5G services. In fact, more than half of smartphone users in India expect their own provider to switch to 5G or will wait a maximum of six months before moving to another provider that does,” he said.”
The Ericsson 5G Consumer Potential study also reveals that one in five smartphone users’ data usage could reach more than 145 GB per month on a 5G device by 2025.
Globally, 5G uptake will be faster than expected
The June 2019 edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report forecasts 1.9 billion 5G subscriptions – up from 1.5 billion forecasted in the November 2018 edition – an increase of almost 27 percent.
Other forecasts have also increased notably as a result of the rapid 5G uptake. 5G coverage is forecast to reach 45 percent of the world’s population by end of 2024. This could surge to 65 percent, as spectrum sharing technology enables 5G deployments on LTE frequency bands.
Communication service providers in several markets have switched on 5G following the launch of 5G-compatible smartphones. Service providers in some markets are also setting more ambitious targets for population coverage of up to 90 percent within the first year.
The strong commitment of chipset and device vendors is also key to the acceleration of 5G adoption. Smartphones for all main spectrum bands are slated to hit the market over the course of this year. As 5G devices increasingly become available and more 5G networks go live, over 10 million 5G subscriptions are projected worldwide by the end of 2019.
The uptake of 5G subscriptions is expected to be fastest in North America, with 63 percent of anticipated mobile subscriptions in the region being for 5G in 2024. North East Asia follows in second place (47 percent), and Europe in third (40 percent).
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