India’s mobile landscape prior to 2022 was murky in the context of 5G. Operators, regulators, and stakeholders were embroiled in disputes over inadequate infrastructure and high spectrum pricing – leaving the country’s burgeoning population of over one billion trailing behind as other nations began rolling out 5G services.

Despite this, India already had a well-developed connectivity ecosystem, with widespread 4G coverage supported by two million base stations and a vast subscriber base. However, operators spent an entire year negotiating the government’s valuation of the initial 5G spectrum, which was reportedly priced at ten times what UK operators paid (£1.36 billion) for their first allocation. Eventually, Indian operators paid over INR 1.5 trillion (US$19 billion) for spectrum access.

A swift turnaround

Today, India’s 5G story is being heralded as a success. A large number of connections -boosted by the country’s huge population – have been achieved in a remarkably short period. This has been made possible through close collaboration between operators and the government, as well as initiatives to reduce handset costs and ensure affordability across all user segments.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), there were 1.15 billion wireless connections in India at the end of January 2025, up by nearly 629,000 from the end of 2024.

Looking ahead, India is already preparing for 5G Advanced, standalone deployments, and even 6G. Having learned lessons from more mature telecom markets, India is now positioned to become a leader that more developed nations, such as the UK and the US, may one day look to, according to Counterpoint Research analyst Siddhant Cally.

Cally described India’s 5G rollout as “one of a kind”, with an astonishing 470,000 base stations deployed since the commercial launch in 2022, according to recent TRAI data.  

He noted that the timing was fortuitous, as Indian operators had the financial means to invest heavily in network equipment from Nordic vendors Ericsson and Nokia. Both companies reported significant revenue boosts from India’s 5G rollout – and even warned investors not to expect similar growth in the next financial year.

The Jio effect

Cally credited disruptive challenger Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) with setting the pace by swiftly deploying an initial 300 5G Standalone (SA) base stations in metropolitan areas – and eventually establishing 100% coverage. At the time, only 25% of global 5G operators had deployed standalone networks, and none had done so nationwide. Jio’s aggressive rollout strategy compelled incumbents Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) to follow suit.

This fierce competition, particularly from Jio, drove connectivity prices down dramatically. At one point, incumbent operators were charging US$4 per gigabyte, while Jio disrupted the market by offering unlimited data plans for just US$5 per month. The resulting price war contributed to the closure of numerous mobile network operators -India once had 14, now reduced to just four.

Regulators also played a crucial role in enabling rapid deployment. Cally highlighted efforts to upgrade existing base stations with fibre optic cables to support 5G, a process that had previously been cost-prohibitive and slow. Government rule changes accelerated this transformation.

However, GlobalData Telecom Project Manager Hrushikesh Mahananda noted that deployment of fibre-optic infrastructure remains constrained by high costs and complex right-of-way permissions. According to GlobalData, only 33% of telecom towers in India are currently fibre-connected. Mahananda estimated that at least 75% will need to be upgraded by 2026 to maintain the commercial viability of 5G.

Affordable devices drive uptake

The rapid adoption of 5G has also been driven by the availability of affordable smartphones. Cally pointed out that 5G handsets are now available from around INR 10,000 (US$118), and Indian subscribers currently consume over 30GB of data per month on average – surpassing even users of China Mobile. He noted that the entry of brands like Vivo and Honor in 2016 brought affordable, feature-rich handsets with 5G connectivity, fast charging, and high-resolution displays to the market.

Fixed wireless access (FWA) has emerged as another key driver. TRAI recorded 5.71 million FWA broadband subscribers in January, with Jio accounting for 4.84 million (84.7%) and Bharti Airtel capturing 872,000 (15.3%). By comparison, there were just 41.1 million fixed-access broadband customers – demonstrating how little fixed infrastructure the nation has, despite the age of fibre and DSL technology.

There’s still considerable room for growth. Vodafone Idea has yet to fully ramp up its 5G deployment, and Cally noted the operator has around 200 million subscribers waiting to be transitioned. State-owned BSNL has around 300 million subscribers. Combined, that’s half a billion potential 5G connections still to come.

Is India’s 5G a success?

So, has India’s 5G journey been a success? “Absolutely,” said Cally, pointing to the rise in ARPU across operators.

“Success comes from the fact that Airtel and Jio have reported strong quarters recently. Success comes from the fact that Jio is now producing its own hardware and software stack in-house. Jio has its own core network and open-RAN compliant 5G hardware. These are the real markers of India’s 5G success.

“The growth in subscriber numbers is one thing, but the growth of the overall ecosystem is another – and that’s what we’re seeing.”

Despite the massive US$20 billion investment in spectrum, Indian operators are now reaping the rewards. Average revenue per user (ARPU) is on the rise. Airtel’s ARPU reached an “industry-high” of INR 209 in FY 2023–24, up INR 16. Vodafone Idea’s ARPU rose from INR 135 to INR 173 year-on-year in Q3 2025. Reliance Jio’s ARPU also increased, hitting INR 206 in Q4 2024, up from INR 181.7 a year earlier. Cally remarked that operators were willing to accept unfavourable policy terms because the potential market one billion connections – is so immense.

The road ahead

Mahananda, however, urged greater development of monetisable 5G use cases in sectors such as education and manufacturing. He also called for further reductions in smartphone prices and more regulatory support to simplify infrastructure rollout and attract investment.

“By addressing these critical areas, India can maximise the benefits of its 5G infrastructure – ultimately fostering economic growth and driving digital transformation,” said Mahananda.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband internet constellation is up and running – at last. The first 27 satellites were finally launched into space from Florida on Monday after bad weather meant an initial launch attempt on 9 April was abandoned.

The satellites are the first of 3,236 that Amazon plans to send into low-Earth orbit for Project Kuiper, a US$10 billion satellite communications offering unveiled in 2019. It targets consumers, businesses and governments and takes on the already established Starlink service as well as global telecommunications providers like AT&T and T-Mobile. 

The mission to deploy the first Project Kuiper operational satellites has been delayed for more than a year. It is now expected to miss a deadline set by the US Federal Communications Commission to deploy half its constellation, 1,618 satellites, by mid-2026. Nevertheless, more launches are planned and, if all goes well, Reuters reports that the company has said it expects to begin delivering services to customers later this year.

It’s still a late start in a market dominated by Starlink and its launch services provider SpaceX. However, some reports suggest that Amazon executives feel that the company’s deep consumer product experience and its established cloud computing business (with which Kuiper is expected to connect) could give it a competitive edge over its rival.

Like Starlink, the company has positioned the service as a boost to connectivity in remote or rural areas – if end users can afford it. At the very least, a new player in the market might bring prices down.

As it is, Starlink boasts more than 5 million internet users across 125 countries, including a presence in more than 20 African countries, though, as we recently reported, not without courting some controversy.

Nevertheless, Reuters reports that Amazon Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos has voiced confidence that Kuiper can compete with Starlink. He apparently told the news agency in a January interview that « there’s insatiable demand » for the internet.

MTN has revealed that hackers gained access to some customers’ personal information, but emphasised that the core functions of its business remained unaffected and fully operational throughout the incident.

In a statement, the company confirmed there was no evidence that the breach compromised its core network, billing systems, or financial services, all of which continued to function normally during the attack.

MTN acknowledged that the hackers claimed to have accessed data linked to a portion of its systems. However, it stressed that there is no indication that subscriber accounts or mobile wallets were breached.

The operator stated that it had notified the relevant authorities in South Africa to assist in tracking down the perpetrators, and that affected customers have been informed.

MTN did not disclose how many subscribers were impacted by the breach.

“The privacy of information is our top priority, and MTN remains committed to safeguarding the integrity of our systems and the trust placed in us by our customers and other stakeholders,” the company said. “We will continue to contain and manage this matter carefully.”

EdgePoint Towers, part of EdgePoint Infrastructure, a leading ASEAN-based independent telecommunications infrastructure company, has announced the successful launch of its first solar hybrid site.

The company describes this launch as marking a key milestone in its renewable energy initiatives and a significant step toward advancing sustainable energy solutions in Malaysia’s telecommunications sector.

The new solution provides up to 100% of the energy required to operate telecommunications equipment, reducing dependence on diesel fuel. With a 5.9-kilowatt peak (kWp) capacity, the site operates autonomously using photovoltaic (solar) energy, complemented by battery storage.

This deployment is expected to reduce the site’s annual carbon emissions by approximately 78%, while also ensuring seamless connectivity for travellers along the highway.

As Muniff Kamaruddin, Chief Executive Officer of EdgePoint Towers, points out: “Solar energy has proven to be an ideal solution for Malaysia, given its equatorial climate and high levels of solar insolation [exposure to the sun’s rays]. By integrating solar power into telecommunications infrastructure, we are reducing reliance on non-renewable energy sources, lowering operational costs, and significantly decreasing emissions.”

He adds: “Solar hybrid solutions are an adjacent focus area for us; it is a key part of our broader strategy of implementing innovative, sustainable solutions, driving an industry-wide transformation towards cleaner, more efficient operations, and we are optimistic about future collaborations with both mobile network operators and non-MNO clients to help them meet their green objectives.”

By the end of 2025, EdgePoint says it plans to complete more full solar or solar hybrid sites across the country, in which it has a significant presence. Indeed, 1,800 of it sites are in Malaysia, where it is the second-largest tower company. It is also the fastest-growing multi-country tower company in ASEAN, with 15,800 sites in its portfolio.

Global internet backbone and data services provider Arelion and Latin American network provider Gold Data have announced a strategic partnership to leverage dark fibre infrastructure.

The partners plan to connect Arelion’s point of presence (PoP) at technology solutions group KIO Networks’ MEX 5 data centre in Tultitlán in central México, with its PoP at KIO Networks’ QRO1 data centre in Querétaro in the north-central area of the country.

This collaboration, the partners say, underscores the two companies’ commitment to supporting Latin America’s economic growth through high-capacity, low-latency connectivity. The route is a completely underground fibre construction, allowing Arelion to provide high-availability, resilient connectivity services through Gold Data’s high-performance infrastructure.

Gold Data’s dark fibre route will be integrated into Arelion’s existing network, providing enhanced diversity for wholesale and enterprise customers operating between these key data centres. Arelion’s Querétaro PoPs also serve as centralised hubs supporting access to content and applications for customers in Guadalajara in the west, San Luis Potosí in eastern and central Mexico, and Mérida in the southeast.

Gold Data brings local expertise to this partnership through its extensive fibre-optic network across Latin America. Its collaboration with Arelion bolsters Mexico’s booming cloud, ICT and manufacturing sectors through reliable, high-speed connectivity services and digital transformation.

By strengthening diverse connectivity between KIO MEX 5 and KIO QRO1, Arelion and Gold Data say they are poised to meet Mexico’s demand for robust, scalable network solutions. This collaboration, they add, enhances service resilience in the region and advances the country’s position as a leading digital hub in Latin America. 

This partnership provides Arelion’s customers in the region with enhanced access to Arelion’s number one ranked global internet backbone, as well as Arelion’s portfolio of reliable, fully diverse connectivity services, including scalable IP Transit, Wavelengths, Dedicated Internet Access (DIA), Cloud Connect, Global 40G Ethernet Virtual Circuit (VC) and DDoS Mitigation services for service providers, content providers and enterprises.

Bharti Airtel has announced plans to expand its international roaming (IR) portfolio by introducing unlimited data bundles available across 189 countries.

Siddharth Sharma, Bharti Airtel’s Director of Marketing and CEO of its Connected Homes unit, said: “We have dramatically simplified our IR plans to truly redefine our value proposition for customers, giving them the freedom to use data and voice generously while roaming the world.”

The new offering also includes additional benefits such as in-flight connectivity, automatic activation upon landing, and 24/7 customer support.

Airtel has also introduced a new INR 4,000 recharge plan, valid for one year, which includes 5GB of international data and 100 minutes for overseas use. Domestically, the plan offers 6.5GB of daily data along with unlimited calls. The operator said the plan is designed to deliver a seamless and hassle-free experience for subscribers.

The GSMA recently released its State of the Industry Mobile Money Report, looking at how the sector has grown in the past year. Mobile money has of course been one of the major success stories for the industry in emerging markets, and we’ve certainly found in the past that reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.

Last year, the mobile money industry processed over $1.68 trillion in transactions, and with volumes growing at about 20% compared to values at 16%. Use is therefore clearly increasing, and growth is high, but the volume side is outpacing that of the value. There was also significant growth in the agent network, with 28 million registered mobile money agents – an increase of 20% over 2023. The bulk of this growth came from Sub-Saharan Africa, but there was also growth in South Asia and East Asia/Pacific.

Mobile money has a demonstrable impact on GDP, having contributed US$720 billion in GDP globally between 2013 and 2023, a 1.7% increase; again, Sub-Saharan Africa was a major beneficiary of this, with mobile money contributing upwards of 5-6% towards GDP depending on the country. Additionally, adjacent services are now a major element of the offering – nearly half of survey respondents said they offered digital credit, and around 34% of mobile money providers offer savings products now. Insurance is trailing behind at 28%, but it is increasing.

Ashely Olson Onyango, Head of Financial Inclusion and AgriTech at GSMA, notes that the report details the mobile money gender gap across several markets, with 8 of 12 focus countries still reporting a significant gender gap in mobile money account ownership. While in Sub-Saharan African, usage tend to be on par – Kenya and Tanzania have a very small discrepancy of around 1% – there are significantly larger gender gaps in markets such as Pakistan, Ethiopia and Egypt. These markets have overall lower penetration rates for mobile money – hovering near 60% – and so driving awareness and increasing adoption will likely help to narrow this gap, but there are other cultural factors in play.

Barriers to adoption

“The first is mobile ownership – if you don’t have a mobile phone, you can’t own a mobile money account”, says Olson Onyango. “Then it’s awareness… then it’s adoption, and then it’s usage. Each one of those, you can see in countries where there’s lower mobile ownership, then adoption is going to be lower as well. A lot of this is societal, cultural norms, but there’s a lot of other issues that are driving this. Women’s financial literacy, digital and financial literacy tend to be lower than men’s. They tend to perceive their relevance of mobile money to be less for them. There’s a lot of behavioural aspects around that lower adoption and those wider gender gaps.”

She notes that societal norms around women’s roles in financial decision-making are also likely to play a part, particularly in Muslim-majority countries such as Pakistan and Egypt. However, Ash Robinson, a Research Analyst at ABI Research, argues that the lower gender gap in Sub-Saharan Africa may simply be due to mobile banking being the sole option.

“Most people in this region did not use traditional banking beforehand, with cash being more prevalent that card payments. This has led to a similar payment environment to that of Southeast Asia with mobile payments skipping the usual escalation [cash to card to mobile payments]” and instead going straight from cash to mobile payments.

“This combined with a high smartphone install base has led to mobile payments being the preferred way to pay in the region”, notes Robinson.

Legitimising the sector

The growth of mobile money has been spurred by recognition of its legitimacy – major companies such as Visa and Mastercard partner with mobile money providers, lending recognition and trust as well as financing. Robinson notes that in addition to providing services with stability and innovation, strategic partnerships provide an important credibility factor that helps drive consumer use. “By Visa and MasterCard effectively saying we trust these platforms enough to invest and partner them, it signals to consumers and investors that this is a company they can trust.”

“In 2019, we saw MasterCard invest in Airtel money – that was a big moment, and since then we’ve seen a lot more” says Olson Onyango. “MasterCard also invests in Airtel money and MTN Momo, but then they have a lot of strategic partnerships with Safaricom, UPaisa  and Jazz Cash in Pakistan. These partnerships are catalytic; the investment is one thing that allows growth innovation driving that mobile money business. The strategic partnerships also are also… bringing virtual and digital cards to consumers, building the relevant side of it and trying to expand what’s possible with a mobile money account.”

“Visa has driven strategic partnerships with Safaricom in Kenya and Telenor in Pakistan, and these have slowly been formalising over the last several years. In 2024 MasterCard announced four [partnerships], which was massive – every year before that, it was one or two. We keep seeing more of that as a way for them to diversify their user base, particularly in markets where physical cards don’t really have much of a penetration and adoption. This is a way for MasterCard or Visa to come in and build a user base through the mobile money providers.”

Securing the bag

Security is another area where this kind of co-operation has a huge impact – in a sense helping to legitimise mobile money services. Robinson reiterates that companies like Visa and Mastercard provide a solution with a sense of stability, citing the example of GCash in the Philippines, which saw $786 million in investments from MUFG and Ayala Cooperation each contributing $386 million. This investment helped steady GCash’s position, which had been tumultuous in 2023; several cases of fraud led to a fall in user numbers and a significant drop in stock price. Since the investment, GCash stock has steadied and is on the rise again.

“Security is obviously still a big concern” says Olson Onyango. “We saw this when mobile money providers started to open up their platforms to open APIs, and seeing the infiltration of third-party service providers. You saw cases where a third-party service provider was hacked, and then all that data was exposed from the mobile money providers – there is a lot of concern around that.” The global standards of security and systems offered by partners such as MasterCard and Visa can support and enhance offerings from operator groups in emerging markets such as Airtel or MTN, delivering significant value around the security side.

In terms of regional growth trends, East Africa is certainly maturing from an adoption viewpoint. The next steps will be to see new and pervasive innovation to drive usage and increase the breadth of what people are using mobile money for, and thereby driving volumes. Merchant payments are a critical indicator to see the digitalisation of cash – when people use mobile money more frequently for much smaller amounts, it shows that it’s becoming more relevant in their day to day. In West Africa, there has been impressive growth in adoption since COVID, but North Africa has been less of a contributor to the mobile money scene globally, representing a fairly small percentage in relation. However, Olson Onyango notes that the growth rates in this region are very impressive – around 44% compared to 12% in East Africa.

“Even though it’s coming in at a much later stage, when people are adopting it, they’re actually using it a lot more, they’re transacting a lot more. It’ll be interesting to see what that means for those markets, why they’re using it at those higher levels, and how other markets might be able to learn from that as well. Regulation has come in to support that innovation side… smartphone penetration is higher in North Africa than Sub-Saharan Africa.”

The GSMA Report highlights some of the innovation in East Asia/Pacific and South Asia; mobile money is growing strongly in these regions, and much of this is fintech-driven. The regulation has supported this, with mobile money providers essentially becoming fully licensed banks, allowing them to offer credit and savings products. There are fewer MNO-led mobile money providers; since this sector was viewed more as digital wallets and fintechs in this region, their evolution has followed this path towards becoming more of a digital bank, as opposed to harnessing that scale from the mobile network operator. This reflects the different priorities of the region; ultimately, in Africa the real need was to provide financial accounts and enable basic transactions that were previously unavailable.

Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa has pledged to elevate the company’s mobile money platform, M-Pesa, into its next phase-emphasising the need for stronger cybersecurity and uninterrupted service.

Speaking about the upcoming M-Pesa 2.0, Ndegwa said the upgrade would be rolled out within the next 6 to 12 months, citing an urgent need to “keep ahead of the crooks” attempting to breach their systems.

He added that the upgrade would come with a major shift in reliability, claiming there would be zero downtime during deployment. In contrast, earlier versions of M-Pesa – such as those introduced in 2021 – often required full system outages, with customers unable to transact and banking partners forced to suspend services for several days due to tight integration with the platform.

Currently, downtime during updates averages around 10 minutes, but Safaricom aims to carry out future upgrades without taking the platform offline.

A central focus of the upcoming update will be cybersecurity resilience. Ndegwa explained that making M-Pesa safer “requires a lot of investment, as the core needs to be ring-fenced.” He also noted that Safaricom mobile sites typically have a backup site in place to minimise the impact of any unexpected outages. However, having backup infrastructure also introduces an additional entry point that must be defended against potential cyber threats, adding complexity to the company’s security strategy.

Safaricom currently invests US$300,000 annually in maintaining and updating M-Pesa, which had over 60 million users as of the company’s financial year ending 31 March 2024.

Service provider MTN has officially concluded its operations in Afghanistan, transferring its stake to the Beirut-based M1 Group. The company will now operate under the brand name ATOMA.

At a formal handover ceremony, Najibullah Haqqani, the Taliban’s Minister of Telecommunications and Technology, announced that MTN’s shares had been acquired by M1 Group for an undisclosed multi-million-dollar sum.

In November 2022 we reported that MTN Group had named Lebanon’s M1 New Ventures as the buyer of its Afghan unit. At the time news outlets suggested that M1 was set to acquire MTN Afghanistan for US$35 million.

MTN, which began operations in Afghanistan in 2007, held a 40% share of the market and was the country’s largest mobile operator.

MTN’s strategic decision aligns with its long-term goal to concentrate on African markets. MTN first announced plans to exit the Middle East in August 2020. Indeed this exit follows announcements of planned withdrawals by MTN from Syria in August 2021 and Yemen soon after. MTN’s only remaining presence in the region is a 49% stake in Irancell, its joint venture in Iran.

At the ceremony Haqqani called on ATOMA to deliver high-quality services, honour its licence obligations, and prioritise consumer rights. Hashim Ramazan, the newly appointed CEO of ATOMA, pledged to modernise the company’s network infrastructure, improve 4G services, and provide reliable, high-quality voice and internet connectivity across the country.

Despite the rebranding, ATOMA has assured customers that services will continue uninterrupted, with a focus on improving user experience and expanding coverage in rural areas.