There is a data point embedded in Jio Platforms’ financials that offers an interesting pointer to the future. Jio claims 108 million of its 480 million users are on 5G – that is around 22 per cent. It also says those users generate 28 per cent of the data traffic. Both Jio and Airtel, which are the only 5G service providers at present, claim that they have barely scratched the surface when it comes to developing enterprise-focused products and services to fully exploit the functionalities of 5G and its AI-enabled usage. This assessment of low exploitation aligns with Tata Consultancy Services’ management assessment that AI-driven revenues amount to less than 3 per cent of open global orders for India’s largest software service provider as of April 2024. Stakeholders working in this space (5G plus AI) believe there will soon be mission-critical usage of 5G and associated technologies by police forces and emergency services. This is in addition to a host of applications such as factory automation, internet of things, enterprise digitalisation, edge analytics, algorithmic trading and other use cases. So, what happens when those products and services start rolling out on 5G platforms and there is more uptake, along with the easy availability of fixed wireless access and wider penetration of 5G handsets driving individual 5G adoption? A huge spike in data consumption, for sure. India is already the largest data traffic generator in the world and data consumption is likely to rise by a massive amount going forward. This, in turn, will create demand for hyperscalers, potentially leading to a capacity crunch. Further, there would be new challenges for network management, in addition to network security. We are likely to see a fair amount of investment going into solving these challenges, over and above simply ensuring sufficient network capacity. This could be where the smart money starts flowing in by the middle of financial year 2025 and beyond.