NEW DELHI - India became the last major Asian economy to kick off a 5G network, marking a new wave of spending by indebted carriers on high-speed wireless technology that's touted to revolutionise everything from gaming to manufacturing and health care.
Though fifth-generation mobile technology - first introduced in South Korea three years ago - has been viewed by consumers as underwhelming so far because of a dearth of matching applications, local operators led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio Infocomm are betting that will change. While Reliance raised more than US$25 billion from marquee investors in 2020 to help fund digital expansion, the need to spend big on 5G could weigh on the finances of rivals.
Given the scale of spending, some experts said carriers are unlikely to undercut each other on prices once again - something that was tried in 2016 when Jio entered the market by offering free calls and cheap 4G data plans, which ended up putting some rivals out of business.