In Short:
Indian telecom companies are starting to make money from 5G through fixed wireless access (FWA), which is growing rapidly. Ericsson says monetization has begun, with industries like medical, automobile, and agriculture next. India has rolled out many 5G sites, with a large number of subscribers already on the network. Device ecosystem is maturing, with most new devices being 5G ready. Eventually, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) will bring in the most revenue.
Indian Telecom Players Monetising 5G with FWA: Ericsson
The Indian telecom players have started to monetise 5G with FWA (fixed wireless access) as it is picking up rapidly, according to Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson.
Monetisation Trends and Future Prospects
“Operators are struggling with 5G monetisation. But this is a momentary phase as monetisation has started with FWA. The next step will be monetisation from industries – whether it is medical, automobile industry, or agriculture industry,” said Umang Jindal, Head of Networks & Performance, Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, in an interview with ETTelecom.
All the applications are being built up, the device price points are coming to the right level, and once they are in shape, India will really pick it up, he added.
India’s 5G Journey
India has done exceptionally well in starting the 5G journey, with a significant number of sites rolled out and approximately 165 million subscribers already on the 5G networks.
Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have already launched 5G services in India, with high hopes for monetisable 5G use cases. The main revenue source for India is expected to be in enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB).
Global 5G Adoption
According to GSMA Intelligence, there were 1.6 billion 5G connections at the end of 2023, a number expected to rise to 5.5 billion by 2030. 261 telcos in 101 countries globally have launched commercial 5G services, with another 90 telecom carriers committing to launching 5G in the coming years.
Future Prospects
Looking ahead, Jindal mentioned that the journey for 5G is significant, and in the next two years, discussions about 5G Advanced or even 6G may arise.
