Nokia, on Thursday, in its annual Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT) report shared that mobile data traffic in India has risen 3.2 times over the last five years. As per the report, Indians now consume nearly 20GB data per month on average. This is expected to reach 46GB by 2027.
“This phenomenal rise in data consumption in India is driven by videos,” said Amit Marwah, Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Nokia India, in an exclusive chat with The Hindu after the report launch.
The MBiT report also revealed that pan-India mobile data usage per month grew from 4.5 exabytes (EB) in 2018 to 14.4 exabytes in 2022.
At an aggregate level, total mobile data consumed in India is expected to more than double by 2024, the report shared.
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As per Nokia’s internal assessment, over 70 million 5G devices are estimated to have been shipped to India in 2022. There are 85 million 5G capable devices available in India.
When questioned about the rising ASP (average selling price) of 4G/5G devices being a roadblock in the adoption and hence expansion of new networks, he agreed saying that “Educating the 2G population which is around 350 million is important so that they see the value of data”.
“The device ecosystem that exists, needs to work on smarter phones which can be affordable to the 2G users,” he added.
Mr. Marwah also insisted on providing some kind of incentives either to the end consumers to help them migrate to 5G or to the device ecosystem. There are many examples in the world where those things (incentivisation) can be done, he said.
When asked asked whether a 5G phone should cost around ₹10,000 for wider adoption, Mr. Marwah shared that he would not be surprised saying that, “With volume, the ecosystem will mature.”
“I can’t say ₹ 10,000, ₹12,000 or ₹15,000, but all I can say is that as volumes grow, the numbers grow, and as more people migrate to 5G networks, we will be able to provide the volumes for the whole device ecosystem to be more affordable”.
Published - February 16, 2023 04:54 pm IST
