The global telecom trade body GSMA projects that India will have 920 million unique mobile subscribers by 2025, including around 88 million 5G connections.
According to the GSMA Intelligence report released in May, 5G connections in India are expected to reach 88 million by 2025, leaving the country behind regional peers such as China, which is forecast to have nearly 30% of its total connections on 5G by that year.
The report noted that India had almost 750 million mobile subscribers at the end of 2018 and is projected to grow to roughly 920 million by 2025.
GSMA highlights that India will account for almost a quarter of the world’s new mobile subscribers during this period, reflecting the country’s continued population and smartphone growth.
Data usage patterns on India’s 4G networks suggest a timely adoption of new 5G devices and services as they become available. However, the pace at which a 5G ecosystem emerges will depend heavily on operators’ ability to invest in networks and on favorable policy and regulatory support.
GSMA predicts the Indian mobile market will return to revenue growth in the second half of 2019 and continue modest growth through 2025. Even so, market revenues are expected to remain below 2016 levels for some time, indicating that recovery will be gradual and challenging.
Globally, the GSMA has said 5G is on track to represent about 15% of mobile connections by 2025, supported by continued network launches and increasing device compatibility. The 2019 Global edition of the GSMA’s Mobile Economy report also forecasted that global IoT connections would triple to 25 billion by 2025, with IoT revenues rising significantly over the same period, while 4G would continue to expand.
In addition, the GSMA reported that low-power wide-area (LPWA) mobile IoT networks are now available in licensed spectrum across 49 markets worldwide. This follows multiple launches of both LTE-M and NB-IoT technologies by operators, with coverage expected to reach nearly 93% of total IoT markets by the second quarter of 2019.
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