New Delhi: India will see a generational change in mobile broadband with a 5G traffic established to overcome the use of 4G in the first quarter of next year, led by the rapid expansion of high -speed networks throughout the country and the ecosystem of rapidly growing devices.
According to the annual report of the mobile broadband index (MBIT) of Nokia, while the monthly average Mobile data consumption By user in the country it was 27.5 GB last year, against 24.1 GB in 2023, the same was as high as 40 GB for those who used 5G. “According to current trends, general 5G data traffic will exceed 4G data traffic in the first quarter of 2026,” said Tarun Chhabra, Nakia country head in India.
A great reason behind the change is the growing proliferation of 5G devices. “The 5G device ecosystem continues to evolve rapidly, with the asset number 5G devices Duplicating year after year to reach 271 million in 2024. This trend is expected to accelerate, with almost 90% of smartphones that will be replaced in 2025 that is expected to be capable of 5G, ”says the report.
Smartphone companies in brands such as Apple, Samsung, Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi and Realme have mainly launched 5G devices in the country such as consumption of videos, social networks, transmission and games have had priority in terms of use of the device.
According to the MBIT report, telecommunications circles No Metro of Category B and C have led growth in data consumption, with 5G increasing 3.4 times and 3.2 times, respectively. “The expansion of 5G networks in these circles has been a key habilitator of this growth. In subway circles, the use of 5G data now represents 43% of the total mobile broadband data, compared to 20% in 2023, while 4G data growth is decreasing.”
In general, the consumption of data in India has seen an annual compound growth rate (CAGR) of 19.5% in the last five years. “The continuous increase in fixed wireless access 5G (FWA) is promoting greater use of data, and FWA users now consume more than 12 times more data than the average mobile data user, driven by new services in residential and commercial environments.”
India has seen one of the fastest expansion of the deployment of 5 g worldwide, with 82% of the population that obtains the services that have reached 99% of the districts.
| Year | 4G devices (MLN) | 5G devices (MLN) | 4G data users (MLN) | 5G (MLN) data users |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 607 | Null | 598 | Null |
| 2021 | 649 | Null | 702 | Null |
| 2022 | 650 | 80 | 787 | 12 |
| 2023 | 662 | 134 | 724 | 131 |
| 2024 | 573 | 271 | 613 | 290 |
Source: Nokia Mbit
