India Mobile Traffic Saw Threefold Increase In 5 Years, Each User Consumes 19.5GB Data Per Month: MBiT

Together, 4G and 5G subscribers now account for almost 100 per cent of the total mobile data traffic in the country.

The uber-premium smartphone segment (over Rs 1 lakh) grew a whopping over 95 per cent year-over-year.

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Average data consumption per user in India reached 19.5GB per user a month in 2022, which is equivalent to 6,600 songs, a report showed on Thursday. Mobile data traffic in India jumped 3.2 times in the last five years, reaching over 14 exabytes per month, according to Nokia's annual Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT) report.

The report revealed that pan-India mobile data usage per month grew from 4.5 exabytes in 2018 to 14.4 exabytes in 2022.

Together, 4G and 5G subscribers now account for almost 100 per cent of the total mobile data traffic in the country.

"India has seen a massive uptake of mobile broadband based on successful deployment of 4G LTE networks. We believe that 5G will take mobile broadband consumption to the next level in India by enabling new digital use cases for both consumer and enterprise segments," said Sanjay Malik, SVP and Head of India Market at Nokia.

At an aggregate level, total mobile data consumed in India is expected to more than double by 2024.

Over 70 million 5G devices are estimated to have been shipped to India in 2022, indicating a strong traction for 5G in the market.

According to the report, enterprise spending on private 5G networks will be driven by new use cases in diverse industry verticals, including manufacturing, utilities, transportation and healthcare, among others in India.

The country's investment in private wireless networks is expected to reach around $250 million by 2027.

"It is essential that this growth is managed in a sustainable manner while supporting India's aim to become a trillion-dollar digital economy," Malik added.

Meanwhile, shipments of 5G smartphones spurted by 74 per cent in 2022 even as overall mobile phone shipments declined by 8 per cent in the year, CyberMedia Research said late last week. According to the CyberMedia Research (CMR) report, Xiaomi led the overall smartphone market with a 21 per cent market share while Samsung led in the shipment of 5G smartphones with a 23 per cent market share.

Driven by a resilient consumer appetite to switch and upgrade, the premium smartphone market continued to gain traction, the report said.

In fact, the uber-premium smartphone segment (over Rs 1 lakh) grew a whopping over 95 per cent year-over-year.

The overall smartphone market continued to post a decline, driven by the tough market conditions in the second half of 2022, CMR, Analyst- Industry Intelligence Group, Menka Kumari said.

(With inputs from IANS)