India's 5G smartphone user base crosses 100 million mark

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Counterpoint Research said India's mobile industry crossed a significant milestone of 100 million 5G smartphone sales in May 2023, surpassing 4G smartphone shipments per month for the first time. The research firm expects the active install base of 5G handsets to cross 140 million by the end of 2023. The surge in 5G handset sales is being driven by affordability.

Smartphone brands have ramped up launches of 5G smartphones in the ₹10,000-15,000 price band leading to faster adoption, said Shilpi Jain, senior research analyst, Counterpoint Research. The research firm said that of the total smartphones sold under ₹20,000 in 2022, only 14% were 5G smartphones. That has now soared to 26% as of May 2023.

The sub-₹20,000 price segment presently contributes to around 41% of the total 5G sales in India, up from 35% in 2022. The onset of affordable 5G handsets has also brought down the overall average selling price of 5G smartphones by a steep 13.3% to $391 in the April-May period, as reported by ET last week. However, 5G subscriptions, despite being offered for free by the top two telecom operators-Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel-are slow to pick up, leaving a lot of 5G smartphone users still sticking with 4G connections.Reliance Jio has outpaced Bharti Airtel in terms of coverage, with Jio now covering over 6,100 cities across the country, while Airtel has covered over 3,000 cities.

Bharti Airtel said it now has 10 million unique 5G users on its network. Jio, however, is yet to report subscriber numbers for its 5G network. The two telcos have taken different approaches to 5G roll outs.