The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to reach an estimated two billion connections in India, unlocking revenues of $11 billion by 2022, a report from Assocham-EY has said.

“Fast forward to India 2022, five new mobile connections per second are estimated to join the power of internet. Nearly 50 per cent of the households are likely to be connected through fixed broadband,” the study said.

It added that connectivity will move beyond people to billions of devices, vehicles, household appliances and machines.

The joint report, “Propelling India to a trillion-dollar digital economy”, said while India holds a huge potential, the market currently lags behind the US, China and South Korea in connectivity through optical fibres.

Only 25 per cent of telecom towers in India carry optical fibres, while the corresponding share in the US, China and Korea is 65-80 per cent. Nearly 60 per cent of the towers should be able to carry fibres by 2022, as outlined in the National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP) 2018, the study added.

“The emergence of new technologies is set to multiply the consumption of data, necessitating the need for installing more towers. Additionally, 1,00,000 telecom towers will be required to meet the growing demand for data across the country,” it estimated.

It said fibre-to-the-home or FTTH is expected to account for the majority of the fixed broadband connections by 2022, helping to realise the government’s target of covering 50 per cent of the households.

P. Balaji, chairman of the Assocham National Council on Telecommunications and Convergence, said the study also suggested the rationalisation of licence fees, taxes and levies to promote investments and revive the financial health to harness emerging technologies.