New Delhi: The Data traffic per smartphone user in India is projected to grow to 62 GB per month by 2030, up from the current level of 32 GB per month, which is still the highest in the world, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report.
The report states that this significant growth will necessitate robust 5G infrastructure in the country. It further adds that, as of 2024, 4G remains the dominant subscription type, accounting for 53% of subscribers. However, it is forecast to decline to 230 million subscriptions by 2030 as users continue migrating to 5G.
The sharp increase in data traffic is driven by growing 5G internet penetration, affordable smartphones, and a rising appetite for video and digital services across both urban and rural markets. Underpinned by strong population coverage, increasing data consumption, and accelerating Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) deployments, 5G penetration is expected to continue growing robustly.
By December 2024, 5G subscriptions in the country reached 290 million, representing 24% of total mobile subscriptions. This figure is projected to climb to around 980 million by 2030, accounting for 75% of all mobile subscriptions.
Nitin Bansal, Managing Director of Ericsson India, said, “At Ericsson, we are proud to support the country’s digitalisation, based on the strong 4G and 5G infrastructure that we have set up in partnership with communication service providers. This is enabling connectivity and driving inclusive growth in the country.”
On the global front, 5G subscriptions are forecast to reach 6.3 billion by 2030 and will make up two-thirds of all mobile subscriptions. Western Europe is projected to have the highest 5G subscription penetration in 2030 at 93%, followed closely by North America at 91% and the Global Capability Centres (GCC) at 90%.
The report also notes that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly becoming a significant selling point for smartphones. Efforts are underway to expand AI capabilities beyond the high-end segment to make such services accessible to a broader market.
With the growth of AI applications and increasing model complexity, computing tasks will be distributed between devices and networks. This shift will bring uplink capabilities and latency into sharper focus for both application service providers and communication service providers, thereby contributing to the growth in 5G subscriptions.
India has undertaken large-scale mid-band deployments and achieved around 95% population coverage with 5G by the end of 2024. According to government data, since its launch in October 2022, 5G services have been rolled out across all states and Union Territories, and are currently available in 99.6% of districts in the country.
As of February 28 of the current year, 4.69 lakh 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) have been installed by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) across the country—marking one of the fastest 5G rollouts in the world.
