CHALLENGES

At over 700,000, India has the largest number of telecom towers in the world, but it still falls short. Experts say that the proliferation coverage of telecom towers has to go up to nearly twice as much for a smooth rollout of 5G

Deep fiberisation of the network so that towers do not get choked. Fiberisation is only around 30 per cent at present, and needs to increase to 80 per cent for a meaningful rollout of 5G

There are still some 400 million subscribers running on 2G/ 3G networks and devices, and the industry needs to convince them to move to 4G and beyond

As many as 100 million feature phones are still being sold each year in India, while the sale of smartphones is in the region of 170-180 million.

Today, the average price for a 5G-enabled handset is Rs 15,000. For large-scale proliferation of 5G, devices in the Rs 5,000-7,000 price range are required

Massive investments are needed in infrastructure, but some telecom players are struggling with huge debt as well as repayment of spectrum dues

URBAN AREAS WITH HIGHER TELECOM TOWER DENSITY AND A HIGHER NUMBER OF 5G HANDSETS WILL BE THE FIRST TO WITNESS THE IMPLEMENTATION