Confident That World Will Learn From India In Terms Of Using 5G For Interesting Applications: Ericsson India MD

India will likely lead the way globally in use of 5G for new and interesting applications going ahead, given its unique and differentiated requirements, instead of simply following in the footsteps of other markets, according to Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson.

Ericsson India MD Nitin Bansal told PTI that India has demonstrated the fastest roll-out of 5G network for any country globally and is "doing extremely well" as a market.

The comments by the top honcho of the company coincides with completion of one year of the launch of 5G telephony services in India, that was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the IMC 2022 conference held in October last year.

The India Mobile Congress-2023 is all set to begin on Friday in New Delhi with the theme of 'Global Digital Innovation'.

In an interview, Ericsson's Bansal asserted that safety and security of telecom networks is a "priority" as data forms the basis of enterprise applications, banking and many other critical applications across multiple areas.

Bansal declined to comment on a question on financial trouble faced by telecom player Vodafone Idea, saying the company "normally does not comment on operators and partners", but hoped that "they remain".

Bansal also refused to be drawn into the ongoing debate around telcos' demand for revenue share from OTTs, as he explained that Ericsson's focus is on ensuring all applications being used on its network result in a good and strong experience for users.

"... And the remaining things, I will leave for our telecom service providers to discuss and agree on what they believe is the best way forward... for us, the important thing is, are our network, and what we deliver in terms of products, technology and solution, able to carry the traffic for Indian consumers in a good way," he said.

It is pertinent to mention that in addition to powering ultra-low latency connections, which allow downloading full-length high-quality video or movie to a mobile device in a matter of seconds (even in crowded areas), typically the fifth-generation or 5G services enable various solutions, such as e-health, connected vehicles, life-saving use cases, and advanced mobile cloud gaming, among others.

Multiple reports recently have documented how the launch of 5G services in India turbocharged mobile download speeds here, improved India's rankings in global mobile speed indices, and overall led to an improved user experience across all telecom circles. In fact, the 5G offtake in India is widely expected to surpass initial estimates.

"This is the fastest rollout for a 5G network that we have seen in any country, globally.

So from a rollout point of view, this is by far 'number-one' in terms of speed, in terms of adoption for sure... we have heard the numbers being declared by telecom service providers on uptake of 5G and it's even surpassing our mobile mobility report estimates that we have presented in June, so I believe it's doing extremely well," he said.

Ericsson is seeing a "lot of interest" for 5G services both from consumers and enterprise segment, and the pace of adoption is being fuelled by the focus from the government, rapid pace of digitalisation and strong consumer appetite for such services.

"There is a lot of focus from the government on digitalisation. Indian consumers are using technology for improving their life, improving the transactions, talking, browsing, video streaming. So Indian consumers are adopting technology very fast, and it is a pleasant situation to be in," Bansal noted.

On what could be that one killer app which will nudge people to move to 5G, and embrace its full suite of offerings, Bansal expressed confidence that India will demonstrate new innovative applications on 5G, to the world.

"There is no one killer app, (rather) it is a bouquet. India has always been very different in terms of the requirements so I don't believe that India will learn from the applications that have been developed, globally. On the contrary, after a few months, I am pretty sure that the world will learn from what India has done in terms of using 5G for interesting applications," he said.

The whole ecosystem is working on using 5G even more effectively, be it sports, health care, education or other areas.

"I believe 5G does not only bring in the better quality but it also helps to decongest the networks, and build the capacity needed," he said.