industry

Migration to 4G slows amid Covid-19 disruptions


New Delhi: Migration and addition of new users to 4G technology hit an all time low in the quarter to June, owing to disruptions in porting and new SIM issuances by telecom companies. But these services are expected to be restored from this quarter, said experts.

The 4G subscriber base in April-June grew a meagre 1.7%, as against 5.3% in the preceding quarter, data collated by ET showed. “We feel the slow growth in 4G subscriber addition is temporary because of the shutdown in retail,” said Rajiv Sharma, head of research at SBICap Securities.

“The number will revive to 4% in the ongoing quarter (through September) and above 5% during the festive season due to increased smartphone sales and accelerated adoption of digital services caused by the pandemic.” He said that contactless home delivery of SIM cards by telecom operators will help them overcome previous quarter’s lag in 4G adoption.

Though the fall is largely because of the pandemic related restrictions, 4G customer addition has been on a decline for the past two years due to the resistance of 2G/3G feature phone users to migrate. Analysts expect 4G adoption to pick up in the future.





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