5G is the Next Big Thing, but 4G is the Workhorse You Need

Reported by Tanay Singh Thakur November 19th, 2022 at 02:46 pm

The reason why telcos haven't even hinted about 5G tariffs is that they know that consumers won't take up the service if 5G is even 10% more expensive. 4G is driving the revenues for the operators, and most consumers would also be more than satisfied with a good 4G network experience.

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Highlights

There's so much talk about why 5G is the next big thing.
If one telco moves ahead with 5G and the other doesn't, it's a significant loss from the marketing perspective and brand building.
From the consumer's perspective, a fiber broadband connection can be the best thing if you need super high speeds inside your home with a ton of data.

There's so much talk about why 5G is the next big thing. It's not wrong; 5G is indeed the technology that will change a lot of lives. Be it in the enterprise space or the retail consumer space, 5G is going to make a big difference. As SP Kochhar, DG of COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India), told TelecomTalk during an exclusive interaction, 3G to 4G was an upgrade, but 4G to 5G is a shift of technologies. Now, this is something worth pondering. Regardless, it doesn't mean that 5G would become the biggest priority for consumers. Because 5G is a shift of technology, the ecosystem of gadgets, networks, and products needs to evolve as well to integrate 5G in the proper manner and get the best out of it. Otherwise, it's just one big expensive loss-making machine for the telcos.

Now don't get me wrong here. I am not saying 5G is going to make losses for the operators. But it isn't going to give significant returns right away, either. The Indian telcos understand that very well. However, they are torn apart because of the competition. If one telco moves ahead with 5G and the other doesn't, it's a significant loss from the marketing perspective and brand building. So both Airtel and Jio need to move aggressively with 5G while focusing on their 4G networks as well.

Everyone who is aware of what's actually needed right now understands that 4G is the workhorse for the telcos and the consumers. The consumers are going to stick with 4G mostly as they wouldn't want to spend more of their data at faster rates on applications that can be run on 4G networks with more efficient data consumption.

The reason why telcos haven't even hinted about 5G tariffs is that they know that consumers won't take up the service if 5G is even 10% more expensive. 4G is driving the revenues for the operators, and most consumers would also be more than satisfied with a good 4G network experience. From the consumer's perspective, a fiber broadband connection can be the best thing if you need super high speeds inside your home with a ton of data. While moving, a decent 4G network coverage would also suffice, even for streaming content online.