With the last industry-wide tariff hike done in December 2021, telecom operators will focus on monetisation via tariff hikes this year, but only after the 2024 general elections, say analysts.
Vodafone said Kuiper's high-bandwidth, low-latency satellites would be useful in connecting remote mobile base stations to its core networks, without fibre-based wireless links.
The telecom arm of Reliance Industries snapped up airwaves worth $11 billion in a 5G spectrum auction last August and had launched 5G services in several cities.
The research agency says telcos are on 5G roll-out spree across India having launched the service in over 300 cities already, but mass adoption will happen with more 5G use-cases.
Sales of smartphones dipped in 2022, driven mainly by macroeconomic factors. Analysts say the trend will continue in 2023, although the aggressive 5G rollout will push up sales of those devices.
While the discourse has only focussed on the incremental improvements that 5G will enable, concerns remain about how the older ecosystem will be able to keep up.
The survey conducted by social media community platform LocalCircles also revealed that 24% of 9,965 respondents didn’t see themselves investing in a 5G new device.
PM Modi launched 5G services on 1 October amid much fanfare. On Wednesday, a meeting between the Ministry of Electronics and IT officials was dedicated to its quick adoption.
Airtel and Vodafone networks will be using the existing 4G infrastructure in India to build their 5G network while Reliance will use a sophisticated standalone network.
S.P. Kochhar, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India, says it doesn’t ‘make sense’ to have standalone 5G at the start, and discusses challenges around rollout.
This is the game every nation is now learning to play. Some are finding new allies or seeing value among nations where they’d seen marginal interest. The starkest example is India & Europe.
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