A decade after Jio's launch, Indian telecom runs on cheap, heavy data: monthly use per subscriber rose from under 0.2 GB to about 21.5 GB as the price of 1 GB fell about 96%. With subscriber growth maturing and operator spending flat, the next phase depends on monetising 5G, fixed wireless access and AI-run networks.
By Faisal Kawoosa, Chief Analyst and Co-founder · Read the full analysis
Jio's 2016 launch reshaped every metric in Indian telecom. Data use is up roughly 100 times, 1 GB now costs about ₹9 against ₹228 in 2016, and 4G and 5G subscribers have grown from under 10 million to about 938 million. India is now the only country after China with more than a billion internet subscribers.
Industry revenue took a V-shaped path: quarterly gross revenue fell about 26%, from ₹73,344 crore before Jio to ₹54,218 crore during the tariff war, before recovering to ₹96,390 crore. Growth now comes from new services rather than new users. 5G FWA is the fastest-growing broadband service by subscriber addition, while vendor results such as Ericsson's Q3 2026 point to a flat network-equipment market and rising AI component costs. At IMC 2026, the focus moved to networks that use AI to plan, run and secure themselves.
It made mobile data cheap and universal. The price of 1 GB fell about 96% since 2016, and average use rose from under 0.2 GB to about 21.5 GB a month.
9.4 million as of September 2025, about 0.94% of all broadband subscribers. Techarc estimated the base would cross 11 million by December 2025.
Not much. Ericsson's Q3 2026 results point to a flat radio-network market, with growth coming from share gains and efficiency rather than new operator spending.
The weekly read on where technology is heading — 75,000+ subscribers across the industry.
Questions about our reports, dashboards, InsightsPro or a custom engagement? Send a note and the team will get back to you.