The government is looking at addressing challenges related to lack of returns on 5G investments and at the same time need for expanding telecom infrastructure arising out of increase in data usage, a senior official said on Friday.
During a panel discussion at ICRIER Prosus Centre for Internet and Digital Economy event, telecom secretary Neeraj Mittal said that the median data speed in India has increased from about 99-100 megabit per second (mbps) in September to 151 mbps and on an average an individual consumes about 29 gigabytes of data every month.
He said that most people are consuming data for the purpose of entertainment which means that there is a need to continuously augment telecom infrastructure.
"In terms of challenges, we are going to see a lot of pressure on spectrum, as the data flow increases, we have to find new spectrum for mobile usage and broadband. A lot of capex will be required as we move from 5G to 6G. Elsewhere use of 5G and providing them returns because we