Total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA & LTE) increased from 1,180.82 million at the end of May, 17 to 1,186.84 million at the end of Jun, 17, the TRAI report stated.

The Big Bytes offer comes with additional broadband data up to 1000 GB, unlimited local and STD calls with a validity till March 31, 2018.

In India, telecom operators including Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) have signed deals to roll out 5G services possibly by 2020.

New telecom operator Reliance Jio plans to double its network size by adding 1 lakh additional mobile sites in coming months.

India is still dealing with the 4G revolution but companies like Nokia are already preparing ground for 5G networks.

According to Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao, the play in the Indian telecom industry has become data-driven, taking the voice a back seat. He prefers to focus on the next technology like 5G, sailing through the 4G wave unhurt.

Disruption is often used as an effective strategy by a new and powerful entrant to outcast strong incumbent competitors.

The biggest reason for the telecom sector's troubles now is the aggressive entry of Reliance Jio, the $21-billion start-up backed by Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd.

Reliance Jio is working with Israel's Airspan to provide the nation a smooth transition to 5G services.

Reliance Industries said its telecom subsidiary Jio has garnered 72.4 million subscribers within four months of commencement of services but continues to face congestion issues as interconnect capacity provided by some large operators is \"still way below requirement\".

The announcement sent shockwaves through the telecom industry as the main rival Bharti Airtel's shares slipped by 11 per cent to Rs 298.70 in the morning trade. Idea Cellular fell nearly 10 per cent to Rs 84.50 even as BSE Sensex was marginally up.

While Airtel has introduced 4G services, Reliance Jio's launch is round the corner. Vodafone is due to launch 4G services this month while Idea will introduce it in the first half of 2016.

The overall cost of RIL's digital plan will go up to Rs 100,000 crore, about Rs 30,000 crore more than the earlier estimated cost.

\"We expect that operators will further leverage themselves, while customers would have to bear the brunt of tariff hikes which would become inevitable for operators to realise returns on these huge investments\", said the rating agency.