With increasing penetration of the 5G technology, the average mobile data per user is expected to increase by over 24 per cent by the end of 2024, according to a report by telecom gear maker Nokia.

In 2023, users consumed 17.4 exabytes per month. One exabyte is equal to 1,000 petabytes or one billion gigabytes.

India had 131 million 5G users as of December that were using 3.6 times the data being consumed when they had 4G connectivity, data from Nokia Mobile Broadband Index report revealed.

This data consumption is set to soar as the number of 5G users is expected to nearly quadruple to 575 million in two years.

The 5G users in India are consuming 3.6 times more mobile data compared with 4G users since its rollout in October 2022.

In the ‘Mobile Broadband Index’ report, Nokia
said that 5G contributed to 15 per cent of all data traffic in 2023.

“The 5G subscribers are using approximately 3.6 times as much mobile data traffic compared with 4G since its launch in October 2022.

“In 2023, users consumed 17.4 exabytes per month with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 26 per cent over the past five years.

“The launch of 5G has emerged as a significant catalyst for the growth in data usage, contributing to 15 per cent of all data traffic in 2023,” the report said.