India’s monthly mobile data consumption per user has exceeded 31 GB in 2025, showing an 18% compound annual growth rate over the last five years. The Mobile Broadband Index by Nokia reveals that the rise in 5G adoption and the use of data-heavy applications are fueling this trend nationwide.
The report highlights that Indians are utilizing more data than ever, driven by services like 4K video streaming, cloud gaming, and AI-based applications. In 2025, India’s total mobile data traffic surpassed 27 exabytes per month, with 5G accounting for nearly 47% of this, experiencing a 70% annual traffic increase to reach 12.9 exabytes per month.
Metro cities lead in 5G adoption, constituting 58% of total mobile data traffic, but the growth is rapidly expanding to smaller regions, indicating a nationwide embrace of 5G technology. India’s device ecosystem plays a vital role, with 892 million active 4G devices in 2025, including over 383 million 5G-capable devices.
The transition to 5G is further facilitated by the availability of smartphones, as more than 90% of devices shipped in 2025 supported 5G. The report also emphasizes the increasing influence of artificial intelligence on future network demands, necessitating network evolution to manage higher data loads, lower latency, and more intricate computing requirements. Projections suggest India’s 5G subscriber base could surpass 1 billion by 2031.
