India has the potential to become one of the top two markets for Ericsson in the next few years, with the planned adoption of 5G technology, according to the Swedish telecom equipment maker.

“Indians consume the most gigabytes per month, and we expect this to grow to 40 gigabytes or more,” Nitin Bansal, MD, India & Head Networks, South-East Asia, Oceania, and India, Ericsson told BusinessLine.

According to Bansal, 5G technology is expected to help mobile operators to achieve 48 per cent incremental revenue growth.

The top five use cases include enhanced video services, real-time automation, monitoring and tracking, connected vehicle, hazard and maintenance sensing. All these are relevant for the manufacturing segment and applicable for the public safety segment.

‘Market potential’

“We have found that 40 million users can take up 5G services in India once it is launched. A survey we conducted showed that subscribers are willing to pay 50 per cent more for 5G services.”

Ericsson is also engaging with all the three telecom operators on 5G trials. However, 4G remained the dominant technology in 2020, accounting for 61 per cent of mobile subscriptions. The technology will continue to be dominant, representing 66 per cent of mobile subscriptions in 2026, with 3G being phased out by that time. 5G will represent around 26 per cent of mobile subscriptions, about 330 million, in India by the end of 2026.

“Capex will shift towards 5G once the spectrum is auctioned and operators commence laying 5G network,” said Bansal.

“Once auctions occur, we will be ready to start providing 5G services a week after spectrum allocation”, he said.

Ericsson has 93 5G networks live across spectrum bands globally.