NEW DELHI: Qualcomm said that India is going to be a “fast follower” of the fifth-generation ( 5G ) technology, even as the country’s pan-Indian 4G LTE networks continue to see exponential data consumption due to falling data rates and rapid uptake of smartphones and 4G feature phones.

The US-based chipmaker said that the 4G feature phone will continue to see good growth in the country.

“When you can prove that the demand for data is there it naturally drives to how do you manage it from a business perspective. If you have a big demand for data, you clearly need to drive the cost down so that you can compete. Basically, you need a bigger pipe, and that naturally leads to the implementation of 5G,” Jim Cathey, senior vice president and president of Asia Pacific and India, told ET, in a recent interaction.

“The nationwide implementation of LTE is great, and now we can watch how 5G rolls out in 2019 elsewhere and India can be a fast follower,” he added.

The Indian government has set a commercial rollout target for consumers by 2020 at par with global timelines with the telecom department poised to unveil its 5G technology roadmap by June.

The government has already committed budgetary support for a 5G technology test bed that will be anchored at the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai. However, cash-strapped Indian telcos are averse to an early 5G spectrum sale and want the government to defer it till FY20 so that there is time for the device ecosystem to develop and the industry to overcome its financial stress and consolidate completely.

Cathey said that there are various sectors such as healthcare, automobiles and smart cities that would require low latency for new use cases. “5G plays a big part in that and the government will be instrumental here, and so should the carrier,” he said, adding that the government agencies need to work closely with private companies.

According to him, 5G will also help accelerate the Indian government’s projects such as Digital India and Smart City. The company is pushing the 4G feature phone aggressively with its 205-mobile platform, which powers Jio’s 4G feature phone, JioPhone. “The 4G feature phone has a very long life. It is a very good market for first-time users or somebody who is comfortable with that device. It probably has multiple years of life but it is an excellent product to bring new users into the smartphone,” Cathey said.





Qualcomm is currently working with around 18 orginal equipment makers (OEM) to build 5G devices using its new X50 5G modem in 2019. These players include handset makers Nokia (HMD), Sony, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, HTC, LG, ASUS, and ZTE. The company expects 5G smartphones to hit the market in the first half of 2019. However, 5G products like hotspots and ‘Customer Premises Equipment’ (CPE) may arrive later this year but that will depend upon global telcos' 5G roadmap.