Mobile Data Cost Drops Over 96 Per Cent In 10 Years, Broadband Speed Up 72 Per Cent: Centre

Mobile Data Cost: The cost of mobile data has reduced drastically from Rs 269 per GB (in March 2014) to Rs. 9.08 per GB now which is a massive 96.6 per cent decrease, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, the median mobile broadband speed increased from 1.30 Mbps in March 2014 to 95.67 Mbps (as of October) which is up almost 72 per cent, Union Minister for Communications, Jyotiraditya Scindia, said in a statement in the Lok Sabha.

“The average wireless usage of data per subscriber has increased to 22.24 GB per subscriber per month,” he informed. As of October, the number of 4G Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) have reached 24,96,644, spread across 783 districts.

“India has seen the fastest rollout of 5G services in the world with 4,62,084 BTS deployed across 779 districts,” according to the minister. Last month, the country climbed up 11 slots in the latest 'Network Readiness Index 2024' (NRI 2024), and is now placed at 49th rank globally.

India not only improved its ranking but also improved its score from 49.93 in 2023 to 53.63 in 2024, according to the index published by the Portulans Institute, an independent non-profit research and educational institute based in Washington, DC.

The country currently leads in several indicators like AI, FTTH Internet Subscriptions and Mobile Broadband Internet Traffic, among others, according to the Ministry of Communications.

Over the past decade, tele-density increased from 75.2 per cent to 84.69 per cent, and wireless connections reached 119 crore. Furthermore, India launched 5G services in 2022, rapidly improving its global mobile broadband speed ranking from 118 to 15.

According to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report, 5G subscriptions in India are projected to reach around 970 million by the end of 2030, accounting for 74 per cent of mobile subscriptions.

India has the highest average monthly usage per smartphone at 32 GB, which is expected to grow to 66 GB by 2030.