The introduction of next-generation 5G services could boost the fibre sector, but the expansion of tier 2 and tier 3 markets would be impacted by the rollout of pan-India 5G at converging prices, making wireline broadband services unprofitable in the long run.
Due to remote work, online learning, over-the-top content usage, and e-commerce, the wireline broadband industry grew throughout the pandemic. According to analysts, however, the expansion was mostly limited to large and tier 1 cities.
No doubt India’s wired broadband market trails in rankings; fixed broadband coverage there is the lowest in the world at just 6%, lagging behind China’s 55%, the Eurozone’s 70%, and Japan’s 80%.
However, given that data demand will remain to climb and that more fibre will need to be deployed in the future in order to support 5G in India, fixed broadband will remain important.
One of the greatest and most effective use cases of 5G is expected to be FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) (Fixed Wireless Access). However, in the early going, 5G may do nothing more than widen the gap between the haves and have-nots, which is a common side effect of technological advancement.
In comparison to several other important markets, India has a significantly lower fibre kilometre (fkm) per capita. The fkm per capita for China, which has a demographic of 1.3 billion, is merely 0.09, compared to India, which has a population of 1.2 billion. By having 1.35 and 1.34 fkm, respectively, Japan and the US take the lead in this area. In South Korea, 65-70% of sites have been fiberized, compared to 33% of towers in India, while the percentage is 80–90% in the US, Japan, and China.