New Delhi, August 18 (IANS). About 62 percent of people in India are expected to have a 5G connection by 2030, higher than the Asia Pacific region average of 50 percent. This information was given in the report released on Tuesday.
According to the GSMA report, India, along with Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan, is counted among the 'leading countries' in the region where regulatory modernization is necessary to accelerate digital-economy growth and maintain mobile-industry stability.
The connectivity challenge in India is now shifting from coverage to usage and adoption, as the coverage gap in South Asia has reduced from nearly 30 percent to less than 5 percent.
Because of this, cost, access to devices, digital skills, trust and online security have become the main barriers to mobile internet adoption.
The report estimated that mobile technology and services will contribute $1.4 trillion to the Asia-Pacific economy by 2030, a 40 percent increase from $1 trillion today.
The next phase of digital growth will be determined by how governments, operators and technology providers respond to four key priorities, including the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI), declining digital trust, demand for more robust digital infrastructure and growing interest in digital sovereignty.
The report cites BharatNet and PMGDISHA as examples of India's efforts to address these challenges. PMGDISHA has trained more than 6.4 crore rural citizens in basic digital skills.
Digital trust is becoming an economic priority for India. Spending on information-security is expected to increase by 11.7 percent in 2026, reflecting the growing demand for cyber-security, identity, privacy and other trust-related services.
The report states that India's 'Digital Personal Data Protection Rules' are contributing towards creating a trustworthy environment to store, process and manage sensitive data. Additionally, there is growing interest in sovereign cloud environments for local, auditable, and secure AI workloads.
India is also among the countries that have released a 6G spectrum roadmap, which reflects its long-term approach to connectivity and spectrum planning, the report said.
–IANS
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