The time has come for ushering 5G in and 2G out

The immobility forced by covid-19 is arguably less traumatic for broadband subscribers, who can conveniently use videotelephony apps, such as Zoom and WhatsApp, to make up for the lack of face-to-face meetings. They can innovate and organize virtual conferences, family celebrations and memorials, classes, doctors’ appointments, romantic dates and binge on streaming video. Children and senior citizens are also increasingly comfortable using digital technologies creatively and effectively.

Current levels of broadband use, especially video, which typically consumes more data, is unprecedented, and can be traced to a boost in network capacity, especially after the introduction of 4G, which now accounts for 96% of India’s data traffic. However, more than 50% of India’s users depend on 2G, which offers little support for data services.

Enterprises, on the other hand, crave the massive data capacity and functionality of the much-delayed 5G services. It will take significant innovation by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the department of telecommunications (DoT) to remove barriers in discontinuing 2G and introducing 5G services.