India has successfully achieved 95% coverage of 5G throughout the entire country. The Jindal executive explained that moving forward, the focus will be on pockets requiring greater capacity and addressing the 5-7% coverage currently lacking. Telecom firms will now focus on specific areas to strengthen their network, rather than covering all regions with 5G.

The next round of capex will be driven by a demand for network slicing, which will unlock more use cases following the initial opportunity to monetize with fixed wireless access, the company reported.

As per the report, the rollout of 5G in India is expected to pivot from accessibility to improving user experience in specific places like stadiums, transportation hubs, airports, and travel routes, with 1 out of 6 5G customers open to spending 20% of their current monthly mobile expenses for guaranteed connectivity at event locations.

Companies like Ericsson from Sweden are relying on a rise in data usage and the need for unique experiences from high-end customers to fuel the upcoming investment phase from Indian telecom giants Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, following their significant spending on implementing 5G across the country.

“The capex cycle will happen because FWA (fixed wireless access) is not going to stop, it is only going to pick up, even the conversion of 4G to 5G will continue to happen, and demand for improved customer experience will continue increasing, and with all these things happening, we will have to put more money into the networks,” said Umang Jindal, head of network solutions, software and performance, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India, Ericsson.