Fastest 5G Rollout Globally Highlights India’s Technological Prowess in Telecom: Economic Survey

Fastest 5G Rollout Globally Highlights India's Technological Prowess in Telecom: Economic Survey
Growing consumer consumption of internet services, an expanding smartphone ecosystem, and access to one of the world’s cheapest data rates have pushed the average wireless data usage per month from 12.1GB in FY21 to over 21.2GB (as of September 2024), according to the Economic Survey 2024-25 released Friday.

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Rising Data Consumption and Cheap Rates

“India’s telecom sector is expanding with the smartphone boom, surging data consumption, and the advent of technologies like 5G. India stands as the second-largest telecommunications market, with over 1.18 billion telephone subscribers, an overall teledensity of 84 per cent, and 941 million broadband users as of October 31, 2024,” the Survey document said.

“The country also leads in mobile data consumption per subscriber and offers the world’s most affordable data rates. India’s achievement of the fastest 5G rollout globally highlights its technological prowess in the telecom sector,” the Survey document added.

The survey chart data showed that the average 4G data usage per data user per month reached 19.3GB in FY24, while the 5G data usage stood at about 15GB.

“There has been a paradigm shift in India’s telecom technology space that underscores an ongoing effective transition from a technology importer to a technology developer and exporter,” the Telecommunication section of the survey report said.

Also Read: India’s Digital Economy to Outpace Agriculture, Manufacturing by 2030: Govt Report

5G Rollout: Expansion

India’s telecom operators, Bharti Airtel (Airtel) and Reliance Jio (Jio), deployed 5G services in early 2024. Vodafone Idea (Vi), India’s third-largest telco, is expected to commence its 5G roll-out from March 2025 onwards in 17 key circles, according to earlier reports.