India Has Become A Case Study For The World With Its Fast 5G Rollout: Ericsson India to News18 – News18

When PM Modi announced the launch of 5G services in India, telecom operators in the country were still a work in progress and most people didn’t expect the 5G rollout to be quick. But how wrong were they, which has become evident 12 months later, when India’s 5G rollout has become a case study for the world and how it is possible if all the conditions are favourable.

That’s the opinion of Ericsson India which has been a strong force behind the 5G rollout in thousands of cities in the country and it continues to monitor the growth of the network which is now running on 100 million smartphones used by people in India.

We spoke to Madhukar Massey, Acting Head of Campaigns & Demand Gen, South East Asia, Ericsson Oceania and India recently, who gave us a clear picture of where 5G is heading in the country, how people are using the high-speed network and will 5G data plans cost a premium for the consumer. Here are the excerpts from the interview:

News18(N18): Where is 5G moving in India 12 months after its launch?

Madhukar Massey (MM): There are two parts to the growth of the 5G network in India. First is basically how fast the 5G networks have been rolled out in the country which is one of the fastest adoption across the world for 5G networks and the number of radios that have been installed by both Jio and Airtel has been done at a phenomenal pace, which has allowed the services to be launched quickly.

In fact, India’s 5G rollout is a case study for the entire world to see how fast things can be rolled out. After all, the number of radios rolled out in one year in India far exceeds the radios rolled out cumulatively in most countries.

But a more important factor for 5G’s growth is the uptake by consumers who have actually subscribed to a 5G connection. There are more than 100 million subscribers on 5G which is roughly around 10 percent of the total subscriber base in the country.

N18: How did India manage to quickly roll out 5G compared to other big nations?

MM: There are multiple reasons for India’s quick 5G rollout as well as uptake of the 5G network. It was a conducive environment created by the government which optimised the speed out of the rollout. In fact, PM Modi made the announcement for 5G last year, even before the telcos were ready. This made sure that all the roadblocks related to regulatory issues were cleared out for the operators to function smoothly.

The other aspect is related to the technology linked to 5G adoption. Initially, India was behind other countries in the 5G rollout. Last year, we had 100+ networks already on 5G across the world, but we were able to use all of our 4G radios stationed for around 5 years that were 5G ready. So we just needed to push a software update that made it possible to upgrade our existing infrastructure to 5G network.

N18: 5G users in India are still paying for 4G data plans, will that change in the next few years?

MM: The question one should ask is how much premium people are willing to pay for 5G services. We have seen over every wave jump (3G to 4G, 4G to 5G) that consumers don’t want to pay extra. But when you actually tell these people the add-on benefits of moving to 5G they are more than willing to pay an extra of around 10 to 15 percent for the premium service.

But technically speaking, operators spend less to run 5G per GB compared to 4G networks. So, this way the telcos are able to offer 5G at the same rate (as 4G plans) and pass the cost benefits to the consumer.

N18: Based on use cases of 5G, there isn’t much that a regular person can do with their phone, so is 5G still mainly focused on enterprises?

MM: 5G was marketed initially as a business technology, things that enterprises can use more than a consumer. Most of the use cases are aimed at industries like mining and agriculture. There is no question that in these sectors you absolutely need 5G as 4G won’t be able to handle these tasks.

That’s where you ask this question of whether consumers really need 5G? Perhaps not, but even then you can’t deny that 5G is creating special use cases and applications that can offer the premium value that a consumer wouldn’t mind having. So we definitely see these use cases develop and mature in the next few years.