As of now, Jio and Airtel collectively have over 125 million 5G subscribers.
5G services began rolling out in India in October 2022. Reliance Jio and Airtel, two of the country’s leading telecom operators, were the first to offer 5G services to their customers. They have over 125 million 5G subscribers between them. The companies have been offering 5G connectivity at existing 4G rates and including unlimited 5G data with select plans. However, experts now suggest that the firms may soon stop their unlimited 5G offering and will likely increase 5G plan charges over the existing 4G plans.
An Economic Times report citing analysts suggests that Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel will discontinue their unlimited 5G data plans for customers and charge at least 5-10 percent more for 5G services compared to 4G beginning in the second half of 2024 to stimulate monetisation and revenue growth.
Jio and Airtel have been providing 5G connectivity at 4G rates, along with unlimited data plans, to entice existing subscribers to upgrade to the next-generation wireless broadband service for almost a year now, the report notes, adding that analysts predict this will soon change as Jio and Airtel prepare to roll out 5G services countrywide and focus monetisation as adoption levels rise. Notably, the number of 5G users in India is said to exceed 200 million by the end of 2024.
The report states that industry experts predict that the two telecom companies will increase their RoCE (return on capital used) by increasing their mobile fees by at least 20 percent in the September 2024 quarter, and that 5G investments and higher customer acquisition costs will cause problems and they will struggle.
While Airtel and Jio’s claimed 5G plans will likely be 5-10 percent more expensive than 4G plans, network providers may add 30-40 percent more data to these packages to increase usage and also increase market share. Vodafone Idea (Vi), another leading telecom operator, is yet to launch 5G services in the country, the report said.