Summary:
India’s push to lead in 6G is being held back by challenges in monetising 5G, despite rapid rollout and wide coverage. At the COAI DigiCom Summit, Julian Gorman of the GSMA highlighted the gap between ambition and current realities, noting limited financial returns and incomplete connectivity. With low consumer spending power and minimal premium pricing, operators struggle to generate revenue, while enterprise adoption remains slow due to regulatory and digital readiness issues. Although the government under Narendra Modi has outlined an ambitious 6G vision, the lack of a sustainable 5G business model could hinder progress toward future telecom goals.
India’s ambition to take a leading role in 6G development is being challenged by a more immediate issue—generating sustainable revenue from 5G services. Speaking at the COAI DigiCom Summit, Julian Gorman of the GSMA highlighted a gap between future goals and present realities, noting that 5G has yet to deliver meaningful financial returns and a large portion of the population remains unconnected.
Despite rapid 5G deployment covering over 90% of the population and a user base nearing 400 million, telecom operators have struggled to monetise services effectively. As pointed out by Randeep Sekhon, 5G is largely being offered without significant premium pricing, making it difficult to boost revenues. Low average revenue per user and limited spending capacity among consumers further constrain demand for high-value services, forcing operators to rely on scale rather than premium offerings.
Enterprise adoption, another potential revenue stream, has also been slow due to regulatory challenges and limited digital readiness among small and medium businesses. While the government, led by Narendra Modi, has outlined an ambitious 6G roadmap through initiatives like the Bharat 6G Vision and global research partnerships, the gap between aspiration and current monetisation realities remains evident. Unless telecom companies establish viable business models for 5G, the push toward 6G risks advancing ahead of the sector’s economic foundation.
