India’s digital consumption is reaching new levels, driven by rapid 5G adoption and changing user behaviour. The latest findings show a significant increase in both data usage and network demand across the country.
According to a recent industry report, the average monthly mobile data consumption per user has crossed 31 GB. At the same time, 5G traffic has grown by over 70% year-on-year, now contributing around 47% of the total mobile broadband traffic. Pan-India monthly 5G traffic reached 12.9 exabytes in 2025, while total mobile data traffic exceeded 27 exabytes per month.
This growth reflects an 18% compound annual growth rate in data usage over the past 5 years. The surge is largely driven by high-definition video streaming, cloud gaming, and increasing use of artificial intelligence applications.
The report projects that India’s 5G subscriber base could cross 1 billion by 2031. It also highlights that India now has the world’s second largest 5G subscriber base and second highest 5G data consumption, indicating the scale of its digital ecosystem.
While metro cities continue to lead, 5G adoption is expanding across Category A, B, and C circles. In metro areas, 5G already accounts for 58% of total mobile data traffic, showing strong growth compared to earlier periods.
On the device side, India has around 892 million active 4G devices, of which over 383 million are 5G-capable. Additionally, more than 90% of smartphones shipped during the year support 5G, strengthening readiness for future network demands.
The report also points to the start of an AI-driven growth phase. As AI-powered applications and immersive technologies scale, networks will need to support higher uplink demand and lower latency.
“India’s mobile broadband landscape is entering a new phase of evolution, driven by rapid 5G adoption and the growing influence of AI-led applications. As networks transform to support new usage patterns and intelligent services, we remain committed to partnering with telcos to build scalable, high-performance and future-ready connectivity infrastructure.”
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