Special briefing: Magnus Ewerbring—CTO, APAC, Ericsson—on 5G technology and the innovation cycle it could trigger in India

Ericsson is one of the world’s biggest telecom equipment makers, already supplying gear to more than half of the world’s telecom operators rolling out 5G networks. The Swedish company has had a presence in India since 1904. Spanning operations and R&D, today it has more employees in India than at home. As India prepares for 5G, the opportunity ahead will unleash tremendous innovation enabled with 5G, Magnus Ewerbring—chief technology officer for the Asia Pacific at Ericsson—tells Forbes India in an interview. But, it will also take time for mass adoption, given the decadal evolution of each wireless standard. Ewerbring points out that even though 5G has been rolling out in different markets around the world for the past 30 months(some 176 live commercial 5G networks are operating already and Ericsson is a supplier to 97 of them), 4G wireless will still have more subscribers in 2026 than 5G. By the end of 2026, Ericsson forecasts 3.5 billion 5G subscriptions globally, accounting for around 40 percent of all mobile subscriptions at that time. 4G will remain the dominant mobile access technology by subscription over the forecast period. During Q1 2021 (Jan-March), 4G subscriptions increased by approximately 100 million, worldwide, exceeding 4.6 billion, equaling 58 percent of all mobile subscriptions. As more subscribers migrate to 5G, it is projected to peak during the year at 4.8 billion subscriptions before declining to around 3.9 billion subscriptions by the end of 2026. The net addition of mobile subscriptions was low during Q1 2021 at 59 million. According to the latest mobility report by Ericsson, this is likely due to the pandemic and associated lockdown restrictions. India had the most net additions (+26 million), followed by China (+6 million) and South Africa (+2 million). India could have as many as 330 million 5G mobile subscribers by 2026, Ericsson projects in its report. The company estimates that 5G mobile subscriptions worldwide will exceed 580 million by the end of 2021, driven by an estimated one million new 5G mobile subscriptions every day. The forecast, which features in the 20th edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, shows that 5G will become the fastest adopted mobile generation. In India too, "the technology is there, the equipment is there. What we need now is to have the radio spectrum becoming available on reasonable terms for the operators to launch their services,” Ewerbring says.