India\u2019s fifth-generation (5G) mobile subscriptions are expected to reach over 1.1 billion by the end of 2031, representing 81% penetration, driven by affordable handsets and devices, expanding coverage, and fixed wireless access (FWA) service, according to the Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson. <\/p>\n
5G subscriptions reached 430 million at the end of 2025, accounting for 35% of total mobile subscriptions, as per the June 2026 edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report (EMR) released on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
While 4G remains the dominant technology at 46%, subscriptions are forecast to decline from around 570 million in 2025 to nearly 160 million by 2031, as users migrate to 5G. <\/p>\n
The country also continues to lead globally in mobile data consumption per smartphone, with average monthly usage already at 37GB and expected to nearly double to 70 GB by 2031. <\/p>\n
\u201cIndia\u2019s rapidly growing 5G adoption based on enhanced mobile broadband and 5G FWA is transforming consumer experiences. The robust and secure 5G infrastructure in the country is driving inclusion, governance, and innovation at scale and is serving as a powerful foundation for Digital India,\u201d said Nitin Bansal, MD, Ericsson India. <\/p>\n
Recently, India\u2019s second-largest telecom carrier \u2013 Bharti Airtel \u2013 launched differentiated connectivity services, Airtel Fast Lane (formerly Priority Postpaid), based on network slicing for its postpaid 5G customers, as 5G advances in the country. <\/p>\n
In India, Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi) provide 5G-backed commercial services. <\/p>\n
However, only Jio and Airtel also sell 5G FWA bundled with over-the-top (OTT) content applications. <\/p>\n
There is robust demand for FWA in India, with the combined number of connections from Jio and Airtel reaching almost 17 million at the end of the January-March quarter of 2026, as per the report. <\/p>\n
Global 5G mobile subscriptions passed the 3 billion mark during the first quarter of 2026, on the back of 162 million new additions. This figure is expected to grow rapidly and is forecast to more than double to 6.4 billion by the end of 2031, said Ericsson. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith the upcoming transition to physical AI, traffic patterns will fundamentally shift as we move from centralised models in data centers to distributed, autonomous AI agents embedded across our device, vehicles and cities, commonly connected by 5G,\u201d Erik Ekudden, CTO, Ericsson, said. <\/p>\n
\u201cReflecting part of this shift is the continued rise in new commercial service offerings based on 5G standalone network slicing and the number of communications service providers deploying 5G SA,\u201d Ekudden <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
India\u2019s fifth-generation (5G) mobile subscriptions are expected to reach over 1.1 billion by the end of 2031, representing 81% penetration, driven by affordable handsets and devices, expanding coverage, and fixed wireless access (FWA) service, according to the Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson. 5G subscriptions reached 430 million at the end of 2025, accounting for 35% of total mobile subscriptions, as per the June 2026 edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report (EMR) released on Tuesday. While 4G remains the dominant technology at 46%, subscriptions are forecast to decline from around 570 million in 2025 to nearly 160 million by 2031, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1014956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-telecom"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1014956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1014963,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014956\/revisions\/1014963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1014956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1014956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1014956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}