31 million users in India seen upgrading to 5G phones by December: Ericsson survey
The Hindu
5G users in India stand out for their high quality daily engagement with apps.
As many as 31 million smartphone users in India are expected to upgrade to 5G phones between now and December, a report by Ericsson said on Tuesday underlining the accelerated pace at which the world’s second largest telecom market is adopting the ultra high-speed services.
Ericsson estimates the current base of 5G handset users in India to be between 80-100 million.
5G services were launched in India in October last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the past months have seen a rapid rollout of these services across the length and breadth of the country by operators like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.
Swedish telecom maker Ericsson’s Consumer Lab’s Global Survey released on Tuesday pointed out that 5G users in India stand out for their high quality daily engagement with apps, such as streaming high definition video, video calling services, mobile gaming and augmented reality.
Among the big takeaways were the 5G satisfaction levels, and the willingness - by a section of those polled - to shell out a premium for innovative services and differentiated 5G connectivity.
On an average, Indian 5G users spend two more hours per week using these services compared to users in other early adopter 5G markets such as the US, the UK, South Korea, China and others.
“We estimate about 31 million users will upgrade to 5G phones in the remainder months of 2023,” Jasmeet Singh Sethi, Head of Ericsson Consumer Labs said during a briefing.