New Delhi, 27^th June 2020.

A joint Webinar conducted by COAI-IMC and Ericsson highlighted that Indian consumers see telcos as trusted entities in using mobility data for the “common good”. The report also revealed that of those aged 60+ and highly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak in India, 89% agree reliable video calling helped them stay in touch with family and friends during the crisis.

The report findings states that in India, ICT resilience helped consumers navigate the crisis and proved that despite the traffic surge, telecom network stayed strong. As per the findings of the report:

·         77% of parents in India say that ICT is helping to continue children’s education from home

·         In India, the average time spent connected to fixed broadband increased by 2.0 hours per day and for those connected to 4G networks too there was an average increase of 2 hour a day

·         71% in India were very satisfied with the fixed broadband performance, while 66% say mobile broadband networks performed the same or better compared to before the crisis

·         Despite fixed networks seeing most of the traffic increase, 65% in India consider mobile broadband to be as crucial as Wi-Fi.

In India, on daily life activities during Covid 19 pandemic, following activities received the highest percentage of response:

80% agreed that connectivity and devices helped them in staying touch with their family and friends, 77% % believed it helped having their children access to education and also same percentage said it helped them fulfilling their job responsibility while working from home. Whereas 75% agreed it helped in keeping their children entertained and engaged and 64% also believed telecom services were a support in improving mental health and well being as well.

The report findings were released in a Webinar jointly organized by the COAI-IMC and Ericsson, which witnessed participation of dignitaries like Mr. Patrik Cerwall, Head of Strategic Marketing & Executive Editor of the Ericsson Mobility Report, Mr. Nitin Bansal, MD Ericsson India & Head of Network Solutions for Market Area South East Asia, Oceania and India, Dr. Ir. Ng Thiaw Seng, Head of Network Solutions – Strategic Network Evolution Market Area South East Asia, Oceania & India. The session was moderated by Mr. Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI.

While sharing his views during the Webinar, Mr. Rajan Mathews, DG, COAI, said, “We are delighted that critical role played by the telecom sector during the pandemic is noted and highlighted globally and so in the Internationally reputed Ericsson Consumer Labs’ report. The telecom sector ensured to keep the vast sections of the population connected and the country running during these challenging times. We would also like to highlight that, India is on the verge of a big 5G revolution in the coming years. The  learnings and consumer insights from Ericsson on 5G will be invaluable for the industry as we gear up for 5G roll out in India.”

Mr. Nitin Bansal, MD Ericsson India & Head of Network Solutions for Market Area South East Asia, Oceania and India, said “ The role of the Telecom industry during this pandemic has been truly commendable and this is true not only for India but across other markets like Europe, Asia and Americas. Similar trends of traffic and data increase, traffic movement towards suburban areas have also been witnessed elsewhere. Currently Ericsson has 40 live 5G networks across the world and we foresee that by 2025, nearly half of the world’s mobile data traffic will be on 5G networks. India is poised to play a key role in the 5G revolution and we expect 18% of India’s mobile subscriptions to be constituted by 5G by 2025.”

India remains the region with the highest usage per smartphone per month. Total traffic is projected to triple, reaching 21EB per month in 2025. In the India region, the average monthly mobile data usage per smartphone continues to show robust growth, boosted by the rapid adoption of 4G. Additional 410 million smartphones users are expected in India in 2025, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report.

The combination of 5G and digitalization creates new opportunities for service providers to build and extend their businesses beyond connectivity. Ericsson’s 5G for Business : a 2030 market compass anticipates that by 2030 up to USD 700 billion of 5G-enabled, business-to-business value could be addressed by service providers . In India, the projected value of the 5G-enabled digitalization revenues will be approximately USD 17 billion by 2030 from sectors like Manufacturing, Automotive, Enterprise Networking, Education, Healthcare, Public Safety amongst others.