New Delhi, Mar 15 (IANS): India has more than doubled its mobile broadband subscribers from 345 million to 765 million in the last five years and average mobile data consumption now touches 17GB per user per month, a new report revealed.

India recorded the highest growth in mobile broadband data in 2021 and 4G mobile data recorded an increase of 31 per cent, with average monthly data traffic per user growing by 26.6 per cent (on-year), according to Nokia's annual 'Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT) Report 2022' released on Monday.

The report further revealed that more than 40 million subscribers were added or upgraded to 4G services in 2021.

"4G has played a crucial role in developing India's mobile broadband ecosystem. Now, the upcoming 5G spectrum auction and the commercial launch of services later this year will help India bridge the digital divide," said Sanjay Malik, SVP and Head of India Market, at Nokia.

Indian Gen Z spends an average of 8 hours per day online and 90 per cent of Internet users in India prefer to consume content in their local language, the report noted.

With the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 53 per cent over the last five years, India has one of the highest data usage in the world.

India recorded the highest-ever shipment of more than 160 million smartphones, including 30 million 5G devices in 2021, with active 4G capable devices crossing 80 per cent and the number of active 5G capable devices, crossing 10 million.

The report forecasts that user adoption will increase to 60-75 per cent of the smartphone user base by 2025.

The projects that 5G services revenue is likely to grow at a CAGR of 164 per cent in five years.

The 5G technology is expected to contribute up to 1 per cent of global GDP or $1.3 trillion in revenue by 2030, driven by innovative use cases in several sectors.

The short-form video segment can account for 20 per cent of India's digital ad market, estimated to reach $25-35 billion by the end of 2030, the findings showed.