5G traffic rises 3x in India due to fixed wireless access boom: Nokia
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Fixed wireless access (FWA) or home broadband is driving the massive surge in 5G data traffic in India, which tripled in 2024, as 4G growth declines, Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia said on Thursday. In its annual India Mobile Broadband Index report, Nokia said data consumption of 5G FWA users is 12 times that of mobile data users.
With 5G FWA making up 25 per cent of overall 5G data, the findings further solidify FWA as the only major segment where 5G can be quickly monetised by telcos. Together, Jio AirFiber and Airtel Xstream AirFiber control 60 per cent of the home broadband market share, analysts have said.
FWA delivers high-speed internet using wireless signals instead of traditional wired infrastructure like fibre or cable. A dedicated customer premises equipment, such as a fixed outdoor antenna or an indoor router, picks up signals from nearby mobile towers and converts them into Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
On average, 5G users guzzle up to 40 GB of data per month. Consequently, 5G data traffic contributed 35.5 per cent of all network traffic as of end-2024, while in metro cities, it made up 43 per cent of all data traffic. Consequently, Nokia believes 5G will surpass 4G by the first quarter of 2026.
Rising fast
The report said India had 290 million 5G users in 2024, more than double the 131 million at the end of 2023. The figure is set to rise to 770 million by 2028, with 120 million additions annually. This is also due to active 5G devices doubling in 2024 to reach 271 million.
"Nearly four out of five smartphones replaced in 2024 were 5G capable. This is expected to rise to 90 per cent in 2025," said Sandeep Saxena, head of technology and solutions, mobile networks, at Nokia.
As a result of industry-wide trends, the average monthly data traffic per user also surged by 14 per cent year-on-year in 2024, reaching 27.5 gigabytes (GB) per user, making India among the top countries globally in terms of data usage. Data usage has surged in recent years, maintaining a compounded annual growth rate of 19.5 per cent.
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