India’s telecom operators have successfully deployed an impressive 300,000 5G sites since the launch of this cutting-edge mobile technology in October last year. What's noteworthy is that the vast majority of these sites have been set up by just two telcos, namely Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.
Despite the 5G market being currently dominated by these two operators, India proudly claims to have achieved the world's fastest 5G rollout and the second-largest 5G ecosystem. Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology, has been actively promoting these achievements on social media.
An informative infographic shared by the minister reveals the remarkable progress India has made in deploying 5G since its launch on 1 October. Within five months, the country reached 100,000 5G sites, followed by another 100,000 within the next three months. Surprisingly, just two months after that, India achieved the 300,000 milestone, marking a highly commendable pace of deployment.
Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have been the primary drivers behind this speedy rollout. However, the real question from the operators' perspective is whether the number of 5G customers matches the pace of deployment. Bharti Airtel managed to secure its first 1 million 5G customers in less than a month, although they do not regularly disclose their 5G user count. Notably, both operators have refrained from charging extra for 5G services.
Looking at their customer bases, both Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have enormous potential to upgrade their vast user pools to 5G. As per the latest statistics from the Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), these two operators serve over 70% of the market, consisting of a staggering 1.14 billion mobile customers.
In contrast to their growth, other mobile operators, including Vodafone Idea (Vi) and BSNL, have witnessed a decline in their subscriber bases, even though they have yet to begin their 5G rollout. The latter seems to be moving closer to the 5G launch with the support of a substantial state bailout.
Reliance Jio, the market leader, boasts over 436 million mobile customers as of the end of May and plans to expand this number further with the introduction of its budget-friendly Jio Bharat 4G smartphone. The strategy to convert existing 2G users into data users will likely facilitate customer acquisition and eventually pave the way for 5G adoption once devices become more accessible and affordable."India Surges Ahead: 300,000 5G Sites Rolled Out in Record Time!"
However, attracting customers to the 5G network is just the beginning of the challenge. India's telcos face a similar, if not more significant, hurdle than their global peers in terms of monetizing their 5G investments. Although having 300,000 base stations is an impressive feat, there is still a long road ahead, and effective strategies will be necessary to capitalize on this substantial infrastructure investment in the communication sector, including PON, Router, and other relevant technologies.
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