India is set to become full-grown 4G power, says OpenSignal report

A new report by OpenSignal, a London-based company which specializes in crowdsourced wireless mapping across the world, stated that India will become a full-grown 4G power in 2018.

It also hinted that Reliance Jio might increase its prices.

Andrea Toth from OpenSignal said, “The trend will continue next year. Whether Jio remains the huge dominant driver in 4G growth remains to be seen. After a year of free and steeply discounted data pricing, Jio may make 2018 the year it raises prices. That could level the playing field for India’s operators.”

Toth said Jio’s market entry started off a price war in the telecom industry resulting in cheap offers of LTE services from all the operators and driving more consumers to 4G than ever before.

2017 was the year when 4G exploded into the Indian market. Reports add that India, one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world, stands at 40 per cent in mobile data subscriber penetration. This number is expected to double up to 80 per cent in 2022.

The report said, “In our latest State of LTE report, India occupied the lowest spot among the 77 countries we examined, with average download speeds of 6.1 Mbps, over 10 Mbps lower than the global average.”

The average download speeds declined across the board in 2017 as more and more consumers subscribed to the 4G services and the networks experienced a crowding.

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OpenSignal expects 4G to rise its trajectory across the country with more low-cost data plans growing in their consumer bases and manufacturers launching affordable 4G smartphones for better connectivity.