Indian consumers are willing to pay 50% more for 5G plans, says Ericsson

Nitin Bansal, head of the company in India, says the technology is going to be critical for the country's economy.

Nitin Bansal, Head of Ericsson India and Head of Network Solutions Ericsson South East Asia, Oceania & India, tells Megha Manchanda of Business Standard the importance of 5G and how it will help in funnelling through the country's digital story.

Q:  How is 5G going to contribute to India’s economic growth?

It is a platform for innovation that will accelerate the digitalization of industries and strengthen the foundation for Digital India. The technology is going to be critical for the Indian economy as it has enabled new use cases and digitalization initiatives in markets where 5G has been launched . Across the world, 5G is already transforming industries by kick-starting the 4th Industrial Revolution and by enriching the network experience for various businesses and end consumers. With characteristics such as high speeds, low latency, and reliability, 5Gwill enable a range of new services for consumers and enterprises and particularly benefit healthcare, manufacturing, automotive, energy/utilities sectors in India

Q:  What are some 5G use-cases we will see for the Indian consumer? From a business perspective, which industries will be early adopters of the technology?

Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) are expected to be the early use-cases of 5G in India. These use cases will address the limited fixed broadband penetration levels and enhance the user data experience while on the move. In fact, India has the biggest rise in intention to upgrade with 67% of users expressing an intention to take up 5G once it is available, an increase of 14 percentage points over 2019. High speeds and low latency output of the 5G networks will drastically pave the way forward for innovation and higher efficiency, across verticals.

Q:  How has the pandemic situation impacted 5G preparedness of India? How did you manage data in India?

COVID has really emphasized the need for connectivity and 5G underpins the need for accelerated and seamless experiences for consumers and enterprises both. There has been considerable growth in data traffic globally and in India during the COVID-19 pandemic with the increased number of people working from home. The dramatic changes in human behaviour have caused measurable changes in the usage of both fixed and mobile networks worldwide. With more and more people working from home, traffic patterns on networks are witnessing unprecedented changes leading to traffic shifts from downtown to residential and suburban areas.

Q:  Is the consumer willing to pay for 5G?

According to the Ericsson Consumer Lab report globally the consumers are willing to pay 20-30 percent more on an average for 5G plans bundled with digital service use cases while Indian consumers are willing to pay 50 percent more for 5G plans bundled with digital services.

Q: How can the industry overcome the challenge of spectrum availability, pricing and inadequate fibre footprints?

We believe India is ready for 5G and affordable 5G needs to be made available to the Indian operators. Given the ‘long-term benefits’ that 5G technology will bring to India, it needs to be viewed as critical infrastructure and the foundation on which can realize the Digital India vision. It is evident that the value for the economy of having a good digital infrastructure is very large. And we know that increased penetration of mobile broadband actually drives economic growth.