India will soon outdo US in 5G FWA broadband subscriber homes

Swedish telecommunications (telecom) gear maker Ericsson has announced that India will soon outdo the US in the number of 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband subscriber homes, potentially reaching over 85-100 million by 2030.

Explaining the expected growth of FWA, Andrés Vicente, head of the market area for Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India, said: “FWA has taken off in the US, and we see the same trend in India. Currently, the FWA subscriber base in the US is around 10 million, while India stands at 6 million. We expect India will soon overtake the US.”

FWA is considered one of the most successful use cases of 5G globally. Indian telecom companies, which initially started with fibre-to-the-home broadband, faced challenges with last-mile fibre installation due to regulatory issues. As a result, they are now pushing the pedal to expand the home-fixed broadband market through FWA.

Vicente also noted that the introduction of 5G Advanced — the next evolution of 5G technology with enhanced capabilities — will likely occur in countries like India within the next two years. “We also expect other countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia to also progress in this direction. We expect 5G Advanced will become a reality in these countries within the next two years,” Vicente said.

This development will require more investments from telecom operators. However, Vicente emphasised that the technology will lead to greater efficiencies and a lower cost of producing a gigabyte (GB) of data. As data usage is soaring in India, it is expected to exceed 60 GB per month per subscriber by 2030. For instance, the cost of a gigabit of data is currently nearly half that of 4G, and 5G Advanced is projected to be even cheaper.

Vicente also highlighted that, over the past three to four years, India has become its second-largest global market after the US (the company does not operate in China), and he expects this trend to continue in the coming years.

“In 2023, we saw a big uptake in 5G in India, but now we will see steady growth in the coming years. A quicker transition from 4G to 5G in India is closely linked to the availability and pricing of 5G devices, which need to fall below $100. Once that happens, we will see the transition to 5G in India occur within the next two years,” said Vicente.

Ericsson points out that there is huge scope for growth in 5G in India. For example, Malaysia has 80 per cent 5G coverage, yet only 50 per cent of its population utilises 5G services. In contrast, India has over 90 per cent of 5G coverage, but only 18 per cent of its population is on 5G services.

Vicente also mentioned that both Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have taken equity stakes in a new company initiated by Ericsson. This company will combine and sell network application programming interfaces on a global scale to help developers build use-case applications for 5G.

“We will hold a 50 per cent stake in the new company, while operators will share the remaining equity. Twelve operators, including Jio, Airtel, and others from the US and Europe, have joined as well. It is open to every operator,” he stated. Business Standard