The 13th edition of Nokia’s annual Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT) said pan-India monthly 5G data traffic surged 70 per cent year-on-year to reach 12.9 exabytes (EB) in 2025.

With this, 5G now contributes nearly 47 per cent of the country’s overall mobile broadband traffic.

“Average monthly mobile data consumption per user increased to over 31 GB in 2025, representing an 18 per cent compound annual growth rate over the past five years. This growth reflects the rapid expansion of enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and growing demand for data-intensive use cases, such as AI applications, 4K video streaming and cloud gaming,” it noted.

Overall data traffic in India crossed 27 EB per month in 2025, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.7 per cent over the

It is projected that India’s 5G subscriber base could exceed 1 billion by 2031 past five years. India now boasts the world’s second-largest 5G subscriber base, the second-highest level of 5G data consumption, and the second-largest 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) user base globally.

FWA emerged as a key catalyst for data traffic growth, with its share of overall 5G data crossing 25 per cent. The report noted a two-fold year-on-year growth in 5G FWA subscribers. “India’s mobile broadband landscape is entering a new phase of evolution, driven by rapid 5G adoption and the growing influence of AIled applications,” Vibha Mehra, country manager-designate for India, Nokia, said.