The proliferation of 4G from 2016-17 and then 5G from 2022 has led India to witness major speed jumps in median mobile broadband. From 1.30 Mbps in March 2014, the median speed for mobile broadband in India jumped to 75.80 Mbps in October 2023. Today, through the 4G saturation project, high-speed mobile networks are reaching every corner of the country. Private telcos are also investing in rural India, resulting in better mobile speeds on average for customers throughout India. Further, the launch of 5G in 2022 and its rapid deployment have also played a major role in users experiencing better mobile speeds.
"India has seen the fastest rollout of 5G services in the world with 3.99 lakhs Base Trans-receivers Station (BTS) deployed across around 738 districts. Median speed for mobile broadband has also improved from 1.30 Mbps in March 2014 to 75.80 Mbps in October 2023," said Ashwini Vaishnaw, union IT and telecom minister in a written reply to Lok Sabha.
In about a year, more than 100 million users in India have become 5G users. By 2029, Erisson said that there will be 890 million 5G connections in India. Even the data has become very cheap.
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Data Price has Dropped Significantly
From Rs 269 for each GB of data in 2014, the price of each GB of data in March 2023 was Rs 9.94. Further, because of the market being flooded with affordable and cheap smartphones, there are many more internet users today than there were 9 years ago.
"The number of internet users have increased from 25.15 crore in March 2014 to 88.12 crore in March 2023. The cost of data has reduced drastically from Rs 269 per GB in March 2014 to Rs 9.94 per GB in March 2023," said Vaishnaw.
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The minister also mentioned that the total BTS in India has increased from 6.49 lakh in March 2014 to 25.42 lakh in March 2023.
