Indias per user data use to hit 62 GB/month by 2030, from 32 GB now: Report

A recent report from Ericsson has revealed that smartphone users in India are expected to increase their data consumption from 32 GB to a staggering 62 GB per month by the year 2030. This surge in data usage, which currently ranks as the highest in the world, underscores the essential need for enhanced 5G infrastructure across the nation. According to the findings, 4G will still hold the majority of subscriptions in 2024, accounting for 53 percent of the market. However, as more users transition to 5G technology, the number of 4G subscriptions is anticipated to decline to approximately 230 million by 2030. The driving forces behind this remarkable growth include the increasing availability of 5G services, the widespread adoption of affordable smartphones, and an insatiable demand for video content and digital services in both urban and rural areas. By the end of 2024, it is estimated that 5G subscriptions in India will reach 290 million, making up about 24 percent of all mobile subscriptions. This number is projected to skyrocket to around 980 million by 2030, representing a substantial 75 percent of total mobile subscriptions. Nitin Bansal, Managing Director of Ericsson India, emphasized the company's commitment to supporting India's digital transformation through the establishment of a robust 4G and 5G infrastructure, in collaboration with communication service providers. On a global scale, the report predicts that 5G subscriptions will hit 6.3 billion by 2030, constituting two-thirds of all mobile subscriptions. Western Europe is expected to lead with a 93 percent penetration rate, followed closely by North America at 91 percent. The report also highlights the growing significance of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) as a key feature in smartphones. Efforts are underway to make AI accessible beyond premium devices, facilitating services for a wider audience. As AI applications evolve and become more complex, computational tasks will increasingly occur both on devices and within the network. This shift will enhance the importance of uplink capabilities and latency, further driving the adoption of 5G subscriptions. With extensive mid-band deployments, India is on track to cover approximately 95 percent of its population with 5G by the end of 2024. Since the launch of 5G services in October 2022, the technology has been successfully rolled out in all states and union territories, currently available in 99.6 percent of the country's districts. As of late February, telecom service providers have installed around 469,000 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs), marking one of the swiftest 5G network rollouts globally.