Dongles drop out as 4G phones, public WiFi find a connect
These devices, which once helped millions get connected to fast internet when WiFi penetration was low and data prices too steep, are now missing from retail shelves, edged out by the ubiquitous 4G smartphones with their WiFi hotspots and publicly available free WiFi in community areas.
A multitude of factors have led to 4G dongles seeing the end of the line, right from data prices crashing to the proliferation of high data usage during the pandemic through home broadband connections, said industry executives and market trackers.
«There are now no new dongles coming into the market.
We are selling off whatever stock there is left,» an in-store representative at a Reliance Jio store in Mumbai told ET. Other stores also echoed the same in New Delhi.
The Reliance store executive added that with telecom operators offering a minimum of 1GB daily data on smartphones, users now don't see a need to buy a dongle.
«The WiFi hotspot in our phones is good enough to provide connectivity to laptops and other devices when needed. It does away with the need to get a secondary SIM card for the dongle, and the inconvenience of having to charge yet another device,» he said.
A telecom industry executive said no orders are being placed by operators to manufacture dongles.
The market for dongles is negligible for telcos now considering the data allowances on prepaid and post-paid plans are significant now, he added.
«In the days when mobile data allowances were limited, dongles made sense as an option for connectivity, especially for professionals in the field. Now with an average 1.0-1.5 GB data allowance a day, consumers are more comfortable using mobile data for hotspots as well,» another senior telecom executive said.
