India’s mobile services market is expected to witness a steady growth through 2030, driven by the 5G expansion and surging data consumption. While traditional voice revenues continue to decline, telcos are increasingly leveraging high-ARPU premium 5G plans and new monetisation levers for high-speed data services to drive revenue growth, reveals GlobalData, the intelligence and productivity platform.

GlobalData’s India Mobile Broadband Forecast (Q4-2025) reveals that the total mobile services revenue in the country is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.6 per cent from $33.3 billion (€28.4bn) in 2025 to $43.7 billion in 2030, driven by the growth in mobile data service revenue.

Mobile voice service revenues will decline at a CAGR of 2.4 per cent over the forecast period, in line with a continued drop in the mobile voice service ARPU levels, as operators offer free voice minutes with their bundled plans and users increasingly shift towards OTT-based voice communication platforms. Mobile data service revenue, on the other hand, will increase at a CAGR of 8.9 per cent between 2025 and 2030, thanks to the continued rise in data subscriptions and projected increase in the adoption of relatively high ARPU yielding 5G services.

Neha Mishra, Telecom Analyst at GlobalData, commented: “The average monthly data usage over mobile networks is forecast to increase from 25.7 GB in 2025 to 58.9 GB in 2030, in line with the continued surge in consumption of high-bandwidth online video and social media content over mobile networks, given the widespread availability of 4G networks, 5G network expansions and operators’ data-centric plans.”

4G remained the leading mobile technology in terms of subscriptions in 2025 but its share of total mobile subscriptions is expected to drop over the forecast period as users increasingly migrate to higher speed 5G services.

5G is forecasted to overtake 4G by 2027, by subscriber base and maintain its lead through 2030, supported by the ongoing 5G network expansion and investment initiatives by major MNOs. While Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio already offer widespread nationwide 5G coverage, Vodafone Idea (Vi), a later entrant in March 2025, has started accelerating its expansion to strengthen its market position. Also, telcos offering unlimited 5G data plans will further support the growth of 5G adoption across both metro and non-metro areas.

Reliance Jio led the mobile services market in India in terms of mobile subscriptions in 2025, followed by Airtel India. Reliance Jio, with currently over 200 million 5G users, will retain its leadership through to 2030, supported by its rapid 5G rollouts. Airtel India is the second largest mobile service provider. It has aggressively scaled up its 5G deployment, added about 25,000 new 5G sites in 2025, growing its 5G user base to more than 135 million.

Mishra concluded: “India’s mobile market will continue to evolve by scaling 5G adoption while balancing affordability and monetisation. As data usage continues to surge, operators will prioritise wider network rollouts, capacity enhancements, and tiered pricing strategies to convert traffic growth into revenue. At the same time, digital services, content bundling, and ecosystem partnerships will play a key role in driving customer engagement and long-term value creation in an intensely competitive landscape.”

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Categories: 5G, Articles, Markets, Mobile, Research

Tags: 5G, globaldata, india, mobile, Reliance Jio, Vodafone