Is India Building Enough To Power Its Digital Transformation

TABLE-1: EXPANSION OF SUB-SEA CABLES

India is currently counted amongst the smallest user bases for 5G coverage, understandably so because 5G services were launched relatively late in October 2022. However, since its introduction, the 5G user base has witnessed considerable growth and is likely to reach approximately 47% by 2028. 5G data users consume nearly twice the data consumed by other users. This is a big boost for the demand for data services, including secure data storage. India’s low cost of data is one of the major drivers for a high amount of data consumption in the country. This advantage is likely to prevail in the coming years as well.

APAC GATEWAY CITIES

EXPECTED NO. OF SUB-SEA CABLES

CABLE TITLES (OPERATIONAL YEAR)

Country

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

India Asia Express (2023) India Europe Express (2024)

CHART-7: AVERAGE PRICE OF DATA ACROSS COUNTRIES

Raman (2024)

Mumbai

India

5

SwaMeWe-6 (2025)

India’s low cost of data is one of the major drivers for a high amount of data consumption in the country. This

Avg. Price of 1GB Data in US$

Singapore India Gateway (SInG) Cable (2026)

$12.55

India Asia Express (2023)

$12.0

eaMeWe-6 (2025)

Chennai

3

India

Singapore India Gateway (SInG) Cable (2026) Asia Connect Cable-1(2025)

$10.0

Singapore

Singapore

2

Hawaki Nui (2025)

advantage is likely to

Asia Link Cable (2025)

$8.0

Hong Kong

China

2

prevail in the coming years too.

$5.62

Cambodia Hong Kong ( 2024) Asia Connect Cable-1 (2025)

Jakarta

Indonesia

3

Bifrost (2024)

$4.0

$3.85

Hawaiki Nui (2025)

East Coast Cable System (2024)

Sydney

Australia

2

Hawaiki Nui (2025

$2.0

$0.79

$0.46

$0.41

$0.57

$0.61

$0.17

CHART-6: 5G CONNECTIVITY 5G POPULATION COVERAGE ACROSS SELECT NATIONS

0

5G Coverage (% of Population)

100%

80%

S.Korea

UK

China

USA

Japan Australia

Singapore Indonesia

India

Service Lunch (Month/Year)

Apr-19

May-19

Jun-19

Oct-19

Mar-20 May-20

May-21

Jun-21

Oct-22

60%

Source: Cable.co.uk, Statista, C&W Research

40%

20%

India’s low cost of data is one of the major drivers for a high amount of data consumption in the country. This advantage is likely to prevail in the coming years too.

95%

81%

35%

80%

10%

93%

95% 90%

100%

0

Japan

USA

China

India

UK

S.Korea

France

Singapore

Australia

Source: European 5G Observatory, Asian Telecom, Counterpoint Research, Reliance Jio & Bharti Airtel company reports, Statista

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DATA CENTER REPORT - 2024 | 17