Will 2023 be the year when India sees mass adoption of 5G?

In 2022, India witnessed 5G for the first time. But it will be 2023 which will be the year of 5G in the country. India's 5G smartphone shipments will exceed that of 4G shipments by the end of next year, driven by the mass adoption of the high-speed network and the rise in the sale of handsets in the lower-price bands, market research firm Counterpoint said on Thursday.

The research firm, in a report, said it expects limitations like component supply shortages, inflation, geopolitical conflicts, and limited availability of 5G networks to ease by the end of 2023, leading to the mass adoption of 5G.

Meanwhile, the Indian government is looking to push Apple, Samsung, and other mobile phone manufacturers to prioritise rolling out software upgrades to support 5G

According to PTI, Reliance Jio has committed Rs 87,946.93 crore for the spectrum that it has to pay over a period of 20 years, leaving a balance of Rs 1.12 lakh crore. While the company had invested a partial amount in building its own 5G core, it will invest the majority of the Rs 1.12 lakh in Capex for 5G in 2023.

Whereas Bharti Airtel is expected to invest in the range of Rs 27,000-28,000 crore and state-owned BSNL around Rs 16,000 crore in 2023 for rolling out an indigenously developed 4G network by TCS and C-DoT-led consortium. Later, the system will be upgraded to 5G.

Together, investments worth more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore are expected in the telecom sector.

Meanwhile, India's richest man, Gautam Adani, and his organisation are also looking to enter the market. However, Adani group's yet to unveil its full-fledged plan for the telecom business

"It has been an exciting year because of the launch of 5G, a much-awaited technology for 4-5 years. This is a big step forward. We look forward to a robust rollout of 5G next year because this year is just the beginning," Telecom Secretary K Rajaraman told PTI.

"We are all working on use cases. We are telling state governments, ministries, startups, and innovators to come out with innovative use cases in the Indian context, which will unlock businesses and will also solve some public problems, some challenges," he added.

He also said the government will continue to take measures that will lower the cost of operations for telecom operators, a move that will result in higher margins for the sector, which had been reeling under a debt burden for more than a decade.