All private telcos in India have been working for the past year developing 5G use cases and proving that their network is ready to handle higher data load and capacity for businesses and consumers. However, Vodafone Idea (Vi), the country’s third-largest telco, is not in a position to invest heavily in the 5G spectrum auction.
GlobalData, a data analytics firm (via ET Telecom), said Vodafone Idea is likely struggling with 5G due to poor performance in its finance department and a weakening customer base.
Priya Toppo, an analyst at GlobalData, said that while Airtel is already testing 5G equipment, the question remains whether the telco can afford to build 5G meaningfully. As for Jio, Toppo said it would be easy for the telco to gain a market leadership position due to its huge financial resources and existing market position.
Toppo said Vodafone Idea is likely to struggle due to its weakening customer base and financial position.
Masses of Indian Customers Continue to Use 4G Services
GlobalData estimates that a large proportion of customers in India will continue to use 4G services due to rising data prices and smartphone prices, especially in rural areas. At the same time, however, the data analytics companies said mobile data usage in India would grow by 29% between 2020 and 2026 and data revenue would increase by 67% between 2020 and 2026 due to 5G broadband.
This is in line with data Ericsson previously shared in its Mobility report. Ericsson estimates that most consumers will continue to use 4G in the coming years and that 5G will only become slightly dominant around 2027.
Most of the parties using 5G services are business customers in various industries such as healthcare, fintech, agritech and more.
It’s interesting to note that Reuters recently said, citing industry sources, that the telcos don’t want to invest heavily in the upcoming 5G spectrum auction. If there is a delayed or minimal rollout of 5G by the Indian telcos, it may take even longer for India to become a country with the most users using 5G services.
