Indian mobile broadband subscribers consumed an average of over 31 GB of data per month in 2025, lifted by faster 5G network rollouts and cheaper handsets.

The figure represents an 18 percent compound annual growth rate over the last five years, according to Nokia’s 13th annual Mobile Broadband Index.

Total mobile data traffic nationwide crossed 27 exabytes per month in 2025. Fifth-generation network traffic expanded 70 percent year-on-year to hit 12.9 exabytes, generating nearly 47 percent of the total volume carried across Indian carrier networks. Demand centered heavily on video streaming in 4K resolution, cloud gaming platforms, and emerging artificial intelligence applications that require higher bandwidth.

Metro telecom circles generated the heaviest concentration of new demand. Fifth-generation networks accounted for 58 percent of all mobile data traffic in metro areas during 2025, up from the prior year. Traffic volume expanded in Category A, Category B, and Category C telecom circles as operators built out base stations beyond tier-one cities.

Handset adoption accelerated alongside the infrastructure buildout. Active 4G devices in India reached 892 million units in 2025, with more than 383 million of those units supporting 5G connectivity. Over 90 percent of all smartphones shipped across India during 2025 arrived 5G-capable from the factory floor, allowing carriers to shift traffic from legacy bands without subsidizing hardware directly.

Carriers are now reconfiguring network backbones to handle heavier uplink loads and lower latency requirements created by distributed computing tasks. Artificial intelligence features integrated directly into consumer applications require faster two-way data transfer than traditional video consumption, which relies primarily on download capacity.

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