Indian telecom operators are expected to end the promotional offer for 5G wherein customers are getting it at no additional cost with their 4G plans. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, the only 5G service providers in India currently are expected to raise tariffs of 4G plans and also charge separately for 5G.
India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in a presentation seen by TelecomTalk said, "Promotional 5G offering may end and 5G specific realistic pricing plans may be introduced in FY25." However, charging 5G at a premium to 4G is something that Ind-Ra doesn't expect the telcos to do. This is because the use cases that 5G is currently fulfilling for the users can be done by 4G Plus as well.
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In fact, the ratings firm believes that the 5G data tariff on a per gigabyte basis will be even lower versus the 4G plans. In simple words, if 1GB of 4G data is costing you Rs 5 right now, then with 5G, it can become Rs 2 or Rs 3. Note that this is just an example.
However, the overall pricing of 5G plans is expected to be slightly higher than that of 4G. This is because the telcos will likely offer more data with 5G plans than 4G plans.
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5G susbcriber growth in India is expected to reach 20-25% for the telecom industry from the current 17%, said Ind-Ra. The ratings firm said that the 5G subscriber growth will not mimic the pace of 4G subscriber growth in India because the average selling price (ASP) of a 5G phone is 2-4x that of normal devices.
Prashant Tarwadi, Director, Corporates, at Ind-Ra said during the presentation that he expects the uptake of 5G amongst consumers once telcos start charging for it to remain healthy. He explained that the target of the telcos with respect to 5G is high paying or premium customers.
