Indian users showing interest to pay premium for 5G services

The difference between 4G-LTE and 5G speeds was, on average, between 7-10 times faster. It’s impossible to say exactly how fast 5G will be for the average Indian user, given uncertainty over exact spectrum allocations and rollout plans (including the radio access network, but also improvements to backhaul and transport networks). However, it’s safe to say that 5G will bring a considerable bump to speeds in the country, said Doug Suttles, CEO and Co-Founder of Ookla.

Do you think the delay in launching 5G can have any benefits for India?
There are some benefits related to the delay in India’s 5G launch. Namely, the cost of 5G hardware is decreasing as the technology and vendor ecosystem is maturing. Indian operators’ move to embrace Open RAN will drive network costs even lower. Another key factor is the 5G device ecosystem. 5G smartphone prices have already fallen since the technology launched. This trend will continue, spurred in India by partnerships such as Jio Platforms with Google. According to Counterpoint Research, by the end of 2022, 5G smartphones will account for almost 40% of all smartphones shipped in India. In time these numbers will translate into sales and installed base. Interestingly though, we’re already seeing a growing number of results from tests taken with Speedtest that are running on 5G-capable devices in the market. The Nokia MBiT Index confirms what we’re seeing here at Ookla, saying that there are already over ten million active 5G capable devices. This offers operators a good landing ground and existing customer base that they can target from day one of launch.

There’s also a large amount of work going on behind the scenes to help drive 5G commercialization once the spectrum becomes available. In May 2021, three operators (Jio, Airtel and Vi) were given permission to carry out non-commercial 5G trials utilizing spectrum in the mid-band (3.2 GHz-3.67 GHz), mmWave band (24.25 GHz-28.5 GHz), and the sub-1 GHz band (700 MHz), with a particular focus on developing India specific use cases.

All three operators have reported fast speeds. However, 5G isn’t just about the speeds. The additional time has also given operators the ability to formulate their strategy around 5G use cases and bring in an ecosystem of partners to deliver on that. For instance, Airtel rolled out #5GForBusiness to demonstrate 5G use cases for enterprises such as drone-based smart inventory, anomaly detection, connected ambulances, and surveillance. Airtel has also started to roll out 5G-ready network equipment, and Jio is testing its own 5G Open RAN solutions in several cities.

Compared to other countries, What do you think 5G speeds in India would look like?
One of the key benefits of 5G is that it can operate over a wider range of spectrum frequencies than LTE. There’s a total of 104,000 MHz spectrum for sale across low, mid and high bands.

India’s government plans to allocate a wide band of 370 MHz of unpaired spectrum in the 3300 MHz – 3670 MHz range (C-Band), which will offer much greater capacity than the existing spectrum used for LTE services. Assuming that operators will receive sufficient spectrum, Ookla can benchmark future 5G performance against other Asia Pacific markets that have recently launched 5G. Thailand and the Philippines both launched 5G in Q1 2020, while Indonesia launched 5G in Q2 2021.

The difference between 4G-LTE and 5G speeds was, on average, between 7-10 times faster. It’s impossible to say exactly how fast 5G will be for the average Indian user, given uncertainty over exact spectrum allocations and rollout plans (including the radio access network, but also improvements to backhaul and transport networks). However, it’s safe to say that 5G will bring a considerable bump to speeds in the country. TelecomTalk