According to the November 2022 edition of Ericsson Mobility Report, India will have 31 million 5G subscriptions by the end of 2022 on the back of aggressive 5G network deployments by Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel coupled with the growing availability of affordable 5G smartphones. The report projected 5G subscriptions to reach 690 million by the end of 2028, representing 53 per cent of the total mobile subscriptions in the India, Nepal and Bhutan region at the end of 2028.
As per report, the global 5G subscriptions remained on track to top 1 billion by the end of 2022, and 5 billion by the end of 2028, despite current and developing economic challenges in many parts of the world. The November 2022 edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report also forecasts global fixed wireless access (FWA) connections to grow faster than previously expected. Driven in part by accelerated FWA plans in India, and expected growth in other emerging markets, FWA is forecast to grow at 19 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) through 2022-28, and top 300 million connections by the end of 2028.
More than three-quarters of communications service providers (CSPs) surveyed in more than 100 countries currently offer FWA services. Almost one-third of CSPs are offering FWA over 5G, compared to one-fifth a year ago. Almost 40 per cent of the new 5G FWA launches in the past 12 months have been in emerging markets.
On 5G itself, about 110 million subscriptions were added globally between July-September 2022, bringing the total to about 870 million. As forecast in previous reports, 5G is still expected to reach 1 billion subscriptions by the end of 2022, two years faster than 4G did, following its launch.
Commenting on the release, Fredrik Jejdling, executive vice president and head of Networks, Ericsson, said, “CSPs continue to deploy 5G and the momentum for FWA is accelerating. Moreover, global mobile network data traffic is practically doubling every two years. As described in this edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, service providers are taking actions to deploy the latest generation of energy-efficient radio hardware and software, increase the use of renewable energy sources, and operate site infrastructure intelligently to reduce the environmental impact.”
Besides, the report also noted that at a global level, 4G subscription numbers continued to rise by about 41 million between July 2022 and September 2022. Global 4G subscriptions are expected to reach a peak of about 5.2 billion around the end of 2022. Overall mobile subscriptions are expected to top 8.4 billion by the end of 2022, and 9.2 billion by the end of 2028. Most subscriptions are associated with smartphones. At the end of 2022, 6.6 billion smartphone subscriptions are estimated, accounting for about 79 per cent of all mobile phone subscriptions.
With regard to India perspective, rapid 5G deployments by Indian service providers will enable 5G subscriptions to reach around 31 million by the end of 2022 and 690 million by the end of 2028. 5G will represent around 53 per cent of mobile subscriptions at the end of 2028. 4G subscriptions are expected to peak in 2024 at around 930 million and will thereafter decline to an estimated 570 million by the year 2028.
Meanwhile, Nitin Bansal, head of Ericsson India and head of Network Solutions for South east Asia, Oceania and India, Ericsson, said, ”5G will play a crucial role in achieving India’s digital inclusion goals especially for bringing broadband to rural and remote homes. In fact, enhanced mobile broadband is serving as the foundation for the government’s “Digital India” vision by enabling people to access public services. Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and FWA are expected to be the early use-cases for 5G in India which will help address the concern of the limited fixed broadband penetration levels in the country and improve the data experience while on the move.“
The average data traffic per smartphone in the India region is the highest globally. It is projected to grow from 25 GB per month in 2022 to around 54 GB per month in 2028, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14 per cent. Total mobile data traffic in the India region is estimated to grow from 18 EB per month in 2022 to 53 EB per month in 2028, growing at a CAGR of 19 per cent. This is driven by high growth in the number of smartphone users and the increase in average usage per smartphone. The smartphone subscriptions in India as a share of total mobile subscriptions are expected to grow from 77 per cent in 2022 to 94 per cent in 2028.
The Ericsson Mobility Report also highlights the importance of reducing environmental impact. The telecommunications sector has a key role to play in addressing global sustainability goals, both by reducing its own emissions and through its potential to reduce carbon emissions across other industries. To reduce the environmental impact, the growing data traffic needs to be managed with smart network modernisation combined with a balanced approach to network performance.
