5G network services in India were launched on 1 October 2022, and now Airtel and Jio are aggressively enabling 5G networks across the country; so far, more than 50 Indian cities have 5G network access.
The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) Chairman, Pankaj Mohindroo, said today that 75-80% of the new smartphone launches would be 5G enabled by the end of 2023.
Telecom service providers have launched the 5G in a phased manner and are committed to covering the whole country by the end of 2023 or early 2024. The mobile device ecosystem was an early starter for producing 5G enabled phones.
“India as a nation is an early adopter of 5G technology. This 5G technology has opened a vast opportunity for a new generation of telecom equipment manufacturers, application providers, and internet of things (IoT), machine-2-machine (M2M) and healthcare services, among others,” Mohindroo told IANS.
Before the 5G network services launch, around 80-100 million 5G compatible smartphones were already in the market.
5G will represent approximately 53% of mobile subscriptions in India by 2028, according to ‘Ericsson Mobility Report‘.
Approx 31 million Indians will subscribe 5G services by this year’s end.
On the semiconductor industry, Mohindroo said that the Indian semiconductor market was $15 billion in 2020 and expected to reach $63 billion by 2023 at 30% CAGR.
“This is a huge opportunity for the nation. The government is very focused on setting up the entire semiconductor ecosystem in the country from semiconductor fab, compound semiconductors, discrete semiconductors, assembly, testing, marking, and packaging (ATMP) units, etc,” he added.
The India Semiconductor Mission offers an incentive outlay of Rs 76,000 crore for developing the semiconductor ecosystem in India, offering fiscal support of 50%of the project cost.
“We feel that the next focus should be ensuring skilling of the workforce for the sector and incentivising the downstream value chain in semiconductor manufacturing,” he said.
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