India has seen rapid growth in terms of 5G penetration, thanks to heavy infrastructure investments from carriers Reliance Jio, which is operated by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, as well as Bharti Airtel, which has also been operating in the South Asian country for decades. Recently, Airtel signed a multi-billion dollar contract with Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson to help further expand 5G coverage in the nation.
Ericsson is also providing 4G and 5G equipment to another Indian career Vodafone Idea as part of a $3.6 billion deal while sharing the contract with Nokia and Samsung.
Demand for 5G services in India has skyrocketed since 2023, reportedly by as much as five times, as Airtel and Jio began expanding their 5G offerings in the country. The 5G expansion has helped Ericsson significantly, as there's a slowdown in revenue from its main market in the United States where telecom operators are cutting back on spending.
Much of the deployment under this new contract is expected next year, in 2025. Operators like Airtel and Jio are continuing to ramp up the 5G services, as there's an ever-growing demand for faster and more reliable internet connectivity across the country.
Despite launching their 5G services in 2022, both Airtel and Jio have been a little cautious about expanding 5G services in India. Reports indicate that the carriers have been prioritizing upgrading their existing 4G networks rather than aggressively pushing 5G rollouts in the past two years, as there have been limited monetization opportunities for 5G services, as well as lower capacity utilization. Currently, Jio's 5G network utilization is estimated to be just around 15%.
Airtel and Jio are focusing on migrating their existing 4G customers to the more expensive 5G services to boost revenue. Both the carriers have also increased costs by over 25% for mobile plans recently.
Via Reuters
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