4G networks are not going to go out of India anytime soon, even though the era of 5G is here. It will drive a substantial amount of data traffic in India for several years in the future. “4G remains as a substantial broadband engine for mobile internet connectivity for many years to come,” said Amit Marwah, Head of Marketing & Corporate Affairs, Nokia India, during a Q&A session at the launch of Nokia’s Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT) report, 2022. It is worth noting that Ericsson’s Mobility report released during November 2021 had highlighted that 4G is going to remain the dominant technology in India even in 2027. However, in a very natural manner, the total number of 4G subscriptions are also expected to reduce with the arrival of 5G. Regardless, the importance of 4G for mobile broadband won’t be ignored by the telcos.
4G Has Towards 4.5G and 4.9G
Marwah said that 4G has a path towards 4.5G and 4.9G in India, which will be able to deliver internet speeds close to that of 5G. According to Marwah, 5G will play the role of complementing 4G. Most of the use cases developed so far point towards the direction that 5G would be more in demand by the enterprises and businesses of India rather than the normal consumers. One big question for an average consumer before getting a 5G plan would be whether there’s any necessary application on his/her smartphone or laptop which would require such high-speed mobile Internet. If the answer is no, most people should stick with 4G only. There are a lot many ‘ifs’ with the launch of 5G right now. More should clear once the spectrum auctions take place later this summer. The Indian government is targeting August 15 as the date for the launch of 5G networks in India. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is also trying to launch its 4G and 5G networks by the same date.
