About 60% of Indians willing to pay more for a 5G network

• Four out of five (80%) Indians believe 5G will change how people connect to the internet.
• Indian respondents appear enthusiastic about new and emerging technologies and are more likely than the global average to have smartwatches (24%, versus 20%), and virtual reality headsets (10%, against 7%).
• More than 50% of the respondents in China claim to use a 5G-enabled phone, followed by the UAE with 48% while India is placed at fifth with 32%.

India is an extremely enthusiastic market about 5G and close to 60 per cent of the respondents in India are willing to pay more for it, according to a YouGov survey.

Covering 17 markets and 18,803 respondents globally, the survey found that the top five markets willing to pay more for 5G are Indonesia with 60 per cent, followed by India with 59 per cent, China with 57 per cent and the UAE with 54 per cent.

Despite 5G is the future of connectivity for a foreseeable future, it has yet to catch on at scale, with massive variation in adoption and attitudes across global markets.

South Korea’s mobile operators launched the next-generation network to consumers on December 1, 2018, to mark the dawn of the 5G era.

Less than three years later, roughly 61 countries, or 30 per cent of the world’s nations, now have access to commercial 5G services.

5G in India isn’t likely to fully launch until late 2022. The exclusion of Huawei and ZTE from these trials suggests Delhi may side with Washington in shunning Chinese involvement in their 5G infrastructure, following India’s border clashes with China in the summer of 2020.

India is poised to delay 5G spectrum auctioning into the first quarter of 2022.

As a result, Indian mobile operators like Jio, with aspirations to move into other markets, are held back until they can launch in their home market.

Four out of five (80 per cent) Indians believe 5G will change how people connect to the internet (tied with China, and second to Indonesia with 83 per cent).

Indian respondents also appear enthusiastic about new and emerging technologies and are more likely than the global average to have smartwatches (24 per cent, versus 20 per cent), and virtual reality headsets (10 per cent, against 7 per cent).

Indians are more likely than respondents from any other country to be worried about the effects of 5G. About half (53 per cent) of people in India agree with the statement “I am worried about 5G networks”, more than in UAE (48 per cent) and China (41 per cent).

Only 26 per cent of consumers in all 17 surveyed markets claim to have 5G-enabled smartphones; half (52 per cent) do not, while 18 per cent are not sure whether their smartphone is 5G enabled or not.

China ahead of the curve

China is leading the world in the deployment of fifth-generation telecom technology. With more than 50 per cent of the respondents claiming to use a 5G-enabled phone, followed by the UAE with 48 per cent while India is placed at fifth with 32 per cent.

Otherwise, Asian countries like Indonesia (33 per cent) and India (32 per cent) make for a telling contrast with the US (26 per cent), Germany (17 per cent), Great Britain (16 per cent) and France (16 per cent).

Out of the 26 per cent of respondents, worldwide whose devices are 5G enabled, only 42 per cent say they currently pay a 5G tariff.

Asian respondents are much more likely to be willing to pay more for a 5G subscription compared with those in Western Europe and the US.

While 60 per cent of Indonesians, 59 per cent of Indians, and 57 per cent of Chinese respondents agreed with the statement “I am willing to pay more to access 5G”, only 19 per cent of Germans, 18 per cent of Americans, 14 per cent of Brits, and 9 per cent of French respondents were.

Similarly, Asian respondents are also much more likely to think 5G will change how people connect to the internet.

More than four out of five (83 per cent) Indonesians and roughly the same proportion (80 per cent) of Indians and Chinese respondents agreed with this sentiment, while only 46 per cent of Germans, 44 per cent of Americans, 40 per cent of French respondents, and 39 per cent of Americans did.

5G belongs to Asia for the moment

But Asian countries also were more likely to have concerns about 5G’s effects.

For the moment, the day in 5G belongs to Asia.

About half (53 per cent) of Indians, 41 per cent of Chinese respondents, and 39 per cent of Indonesians said they were worried about 5G networks. Concern in France (37 per cent) is very high in this regard for Europe and North America, with 24 per cent of Germans, 23 per cent of Americans, and 18 per cent of Brits expressing worries.

This highlights the opportunity and task ahead for telcos to gain ground in the West. Providers need to improve their communications in educating consumers on the benefits of 5G.

Regionally, concerns about 5G are strongest in the Asia-Pacific area (38 per cent), followed by Europe (25 per cent) and the US (23 per cent). This pattern roughly follows how widespread 5G adoption has been in the three areas.

When two in five Americans do not know if 5G will change how they connect to the internet, and only 12 per cent of Great Britain respondents cite mobile network advertisements as a source of information about 5G, it is clear telcos need to improve their marketing efforts.

Respondents currently connecting to the internet via MiFi (mobile hotspots) were significantly more likely to agree that 5G will change the internet (71 per cent) and in turn more willing to pay more (43 per cent). It is worth noting 56 per cent of respondents in China connect through MiFi, and globally this group skews younger.

In the UAE, about three in ten (29 per cent) respondents currently pay 5G tariffs, which is nearly five times greater than respondents in France (6 per cent), Italy (6 per cent), and the US (8 per cent). Among those who currently do not have a tariff, more than seven in ten (72 per cent) are likely to get it in the future.

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