5G subscriptions in India likely to cross one billion mark by 2031: Ericsson Mobility Report

New Delhi, Nov 20 (PTI) India is expected to have over one billion 5G subscriptions by the end of 2031, the Ericsson Mobility Report released on Thursday said, underscoring the steady uptake of the service in a nation that accounts for the highest mobile data traffic per smartphone.

Notably, the mobile data traffic per active smartphone in India is expected to climb to 65 GB per month by 2031, as against 36 GB per month now, the highest in the world.

The report noted that 5G adoption in India is growing rapidly, with subscriptions reaching 394 million at the end of 2025, accounting for 32 per cent of total mobile subscriptions.

It projects global 5G subscriptions at 6.4 billion by the end of 2031, accounting for two-thirds of all mobile subscriptions.

"The Mobile data traffic per active smartphone in India stands at 36 GB per month, the highest in the world and is expected to grow to 65 GB per month by 2031," Nitin Bansal, MD of Ericsson India, said.

5G already serves as the critical infrastructure for driving digitalisation in the country, he added.

The availability of affordable 5G FWA customer premises equipment (CPE) and high data consumption by FWA users are fueling data traffic growth in India.

Put simply, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is a wireless connection that provides broadband access to a specific location, like a home or enterprise premises.

According to the report, as an ongoing major 5G use case, enhanced mobile broadband is forecast to top 6.4 billion 5G subscriptions globally by the end of 2031, comprising about two-thirds of all mobile subscriptions at the time.

Some 4.1 billion of these subscriptions -- about 65 per cent -- are forecast to be 5G standalone, that is, a network that uses a dedicated 5G core, allowing it to operate independently from existing 4G infrastructure.

Overall, the mobile network data traffic grew 20 per cent between the third quarter of 2024 and the corresponding period in 2025 - a slightly larger than expected increase, driven by mainland China and India, according to the report.

Continued growth is forecast at an annual average of 16 per cent through 2031, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report. 5G networks are expected to manage 43 per cent of all mobile data by the close of 2025, up from 34 per cent for the corresponding period last year.

"EMR (Ericsson Mobility Report) experts forecast this to increase to 83 per cent in 2031. Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband continues to grow as a 5G use case," it said.

The November 2025 report forecasts that about 1.4 billion people globally will access FWA broadband by the end of 2031, 90 per cent of them via 5G.

5G Standalone (5G SA) deployments have triggered a notable 2025 growth in the number of communications service providers (CSPs) offering differentiated connectivity commercial models based on network slicing, where companies guarantee quality of service for customer use cases through the allocation of 'slices' of the network.

Based on previous mobile generation cycles’ subscriptions uptake, in-house researchers expect the first commercial launches to be driven by leading service providers in front-runner markets, such as the US, Japan, South Korea, China, India, and some Gulf Cooperation Council countries, it said.

Global 6G subscriptions are forecast to reach 180 million by the end of 2031, excluding early adoption of AI-enabled Internet of Things devices. The subscription uptake number could increase significantly if 6G launches earlier than previous cycles indicate. PTI MBI DRR