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With more than 50 cities and towns now using 5G, India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo stated on Monday that by the end of 2023, 75-80 percent of new smartphone launches will be 5G-enabled. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 5G services on October 1. Telecom service providers have begun offering the service in certain locations, with plans to expand to cover the entire country by the end of 2023 or early 2024.
“India as a nation is an early adopter of 5G technology. This 5G technology has opened a vast opportunity for a new generation of telecom equipment manufacturers, application providers, and internet of things (IoT), machine-2-machine (M2M) and healthcare services, among others,” Mohindroo told IANS.
The mobile device ecosystem was an early adopter of 5G phone manufacture.
Even before the launch of 5G services, there were around 80-100 million 5G-compatible phones on the market.
According to the ‘Ericsson Mobility Report,’ 5G will account for around 53% of mobile subscriptions in India by 2028, with 690 million customers.
By the end of 2022, 5G subscriptions in India were predicted to reach over 31 million.
Mohindroo stated that the Indian semiconductor market was $15 billion in 2020 and is predicted to grow $63 billion by 2023 at a 30% CAGR.
“This is a huge opportunity for the nation. The government is very focused on setting up the entire semiconductor ecosystem in the country from semiconductor fab, compound semiconductors, discrete semiconductors, assembly, testing, marking, and packaging (ATMP) units, etc,” said Mohindroo.
The India Semiconductor Mission provides an incentive expenditure of Rs 76,000 crore for the development of India’s semiconductor ecosystem, with fiscal assistance of 50% of the project cost.
“We feel that the next focus should be ensuring skilling of the workforce for the sector and incentivising the downstream value chain in semiconductor manufacturing,” he said.
