India May Be Among Late Adopters of 5G Services As Telcos Focus on 4G, Says Moody

Moody’s said that it expects Japan, Korea and Australia to lead the APAC region in rolling out of 5G data next year.

India, along with Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh are likely to hop on to the 5G bus a bit late. Moody’s Investors Service said on Wednesday that these countries are likely to be late adopters of 5G services as they are still focusing on increasing the density of 4G coverage.

In its 2019 telecom sector outlook for the APAC region, Moody’s said that these markets have announced their intentions for 5G coverage but details and timelines are unclear.

Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said last month that India cannot afford to miss the 5G bus and indicated that the government would soon take a call on the suggestions of 5G forum. He also said that issues like data privacy, spectrum allocation and 5G infrastructure sharing norms are challenges that need to be addressed in the process of adopting 5G.

As per reports, Reliance Jio is expected to showcase live demo of 5G services at the India Mobile Congress in Aerocity and simultaneously at IIT Delhi and Reliance Corporate Park in Navi Mumbai. A source at Jio said that the company is making an experience zone where it will showcase ultra 5G experiential use cases, use of 5G for smart hospitals, smart office, smart school and smart homes.

Moody’s also estimates the capex/revenue of emerging market telcos such as Bharti Airtel, Axiata, Indosat and PLDT to exceed 30 per cent in 2018 and 2019. They are estimated to have investments primarily in pushing for 4G networks. They added that Bharti Airtel’s consolidated revenue in Africa show subscriber growth and stability which will be able to partially fend off the challenges in the Indian mobile segment. – Business Today