爱立信高管：AI 驱动网络需求，印度 5G 市场增长远未见顶

India's telecom market has not reached a plateau, with rising data consumption, emerging artificial intelligence (AI) applications and further 5G adoption expected to sustain network demand, according to Nitin Bansal, Managing Director, India and Head-Networks, South East Asia, Oceania and India, at Ericsson. "We do not believe that growth has plateaued. Growth will continue as AI applications introduce new network requirements, including higher uplink speeds and lower latency for applications such as augmented and virtual reality and the management of critical infrastructure. Network expectations will continue to rise, and data consumption will grow further," Bansal said in an interview on the sidelines of the recently concluded India Mobile Congress (IMC). "We are already seeing monthly data usage of around 36–37 GB per user [according to Ericsson's June 2026 Mobility Report], a level we would not have anticipated a few years ago. At the same time, 5G currently serves only about one-third of India's population, leaving significant room for expansion as new use cases emerge," he added. So, the next phase of growth in India will be driven not only by growing data consumption but also by AI applications requiring higher uplink speeds and lower latency. Ericsson's South East Asia, Oceania and India market accounted for 12% of its business in 2025,[down from 20% in 2023](https://www.lightreading.com/wireless/ericsson-bets-on-steady-growth-in-india-following-5g-rollout). It competes with Nokia and Samsung, among others, in the Indian market. For India's telecom operators, the challenge is to translate expanding 5G adoption into revenue growth. Initial deployments focused on enhanced mobile broadband, followed by Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), which uses wireless networks to deliver broadband connectivity to homes and businesses. Operators are also exploring using 5G to offer more differentiated services. Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest service provider, recently launched a[5G network-slicing-based service](https://www.lightreading.com/5g/airtel-launches-india-s-first-commercial-5g-network-slicing-service), which grants faster and more reliable 5G service to its postpaid customers. Commenting on whether Indian telcos should have adopted a staggered approach in 5G deployment instead of setting up a network across the country in one of the fastest pan-India deployments, Bansal said, "5G is not about use case for Indian networks. India needed capacity and 5G brings the capacity in the most efficient way. So, rather than expanding on 4G, I believe India did the right thing by evolving to 5G. The true value of 5G comes with ubiquitous coverage. And so, with the nice coverage that we have and we also have a lot of 5G Standalone (5G-SA) deployment as well, it opens up other monetization possibilities." Bansal believes that new use cases should emerge over the next few months. "I believe that we are moving in the right direction, and we should see some more monetization use cases coming our way in the coming months," Bansal said. With more than a decade of experience, Gagandeep Kaur Sodhi has worked for the most prominent Indian communications industry publications including Dataquest, Business Standard, The Times of India, and Voice&Data, as well as for Light Reading. Delhi-based Kaur, who has knowledge of and covers a broad range of telecom industry developments, regularly interacts with the senior management of companies in India's telecom sector and has been directly responsible for delegate and speaker acquisition for prominent events such as Mobile Broadband Summit, 4G World India, and Next Generation Packet Transport Network.