Indians Are Not Much Willing To Pay More For 5G; Reduced Call Drop Key Reason To Shift To 5G: Survey

With 5G arriving in India, the biggest highlight has to be 10X internet speeds compared to 4G but if a survey by LocalCircles is to be believed then Indian mobile users are more keen to see reduced call drops instead of higher data speeds. Also, Indian users are not willing to pay significantly extra to buy 5G plans instead of 4G.

To find out people’s expectations from 5G and how many are keen to upgrade to the new technology that promises better connectivity and faster downloading, LocalCircles conducted a national survey. The survey received over 29,000 responses from mobile service consumers located in 318 districts of India. 64% respondents were men while 36% respondents were women. 47% respondents were from tier 1, 34% from tier 2 and 19% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

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The first survey question asked mobile subscribers, “India will soon have 5G telecom services. How much more are you willing to pay for these services on a monthly basis?". In response, 43% respondents stated they were “not willing to pay anything more than current tariff for 3G/4G services" while another 43% indicated willingness to pay up to 10% more tariff. Out of 10,019 respondents, just 10% indicated willingness to pay 10-25% more tariff and another 2% showed willingness to pay between 25-50% more tariff. Remaining 2% gave no clear answer.

The next survey question attempted to understand the status of devices that mobile subscribers currently have and if it is 5G compliant or they will need to purchase a new device to avail 5G services. The question asked respondents, “Most of the current phones/tablets are not likely to work with 5G services and hence will require consumers to purchase a device that supports 5G. When are you likely to do the same?" 20% of respondents indicated that they “already have a device that supports 5G".

Of the 9,965 respondents to this question, 4% shared plans to buy new suitable devices this year; 12% in the first half of 2023; 8% in the second half of 2023; the devices being expensive another 10% are hoping to buy in 2024. Almost one in four or 24% respondents shared that they have no plans to buy a new upgraded device in the foreseeable future while another 22% are as yet to make up their mind.

In the final question in the survey, LocalCircles sought to understand from mobile subscribers about their expectations from the 5G services. The question asked respondents, “based on your understanding so far, what should 5G offer for you to be able to spend the money on a 5G device and a more expensive service plan?" 19% expect reduction in call drop and connectivity issues or improved voice network (1); 5% improved availability of data network (2); 12% improvement in internet speed (3). Of the nearly 10,000 respondents, 3% are also hopeful that spam or unsolicited calls and messages will see a dip (4). For 39% of the respondents resolution to all the four conditions are important before they decide to upgrade to 5G. Only 5% respondents indicated that they were convinced that 5G would resolve all these issues while 17% did not have an opinion.

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