India’s average monthly mobile data usage per user hits 31 GB in 2025: Nokia report

New Delhi: India’s average monthly mobile data consumption per user crossed the 31 GB mark in 2025, up from 27.5 GB in 2024, according to a report by telecom gear maker Nokia.

The 13th edition of Nokia’s annual Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT) said pan-India monthly 5G data traffic surged 70 per cent year-on-year to reach 12.9 exabytes (EB) in 2025.

With this, 5G now contributes nearly 47 per cent of the country’s overall mobile broadband traffic.

“Average monthly mobile data consumption per user increased to over 31 GB in 2025, representing an 18 per cent compound annual growth rate over the past five years. This growth reflects the rapid expansion of enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and growing demand for data-intensive use cases, such as AI applications, 4K video streaming and cloud gaming,” the report noted.

Overall data traffic in India crossed 27 EB per month in 2025, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.7 per cent over the past five years.

According to the report, India now boasts the world’s second-largest 5G subscriber base, the second-highest level of 5G data consumption, and the second-largest 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) user base globally. FWA emerged as a key catalyst for data traffic growth, with its share of overall 5G data crossing 25 per cent. The report noted a two-fold year-on-year growth in 5G FWA subscribers.

“India’s mobile broadband landscape is entering a new phase of evolution, driven by rapid 5G adoption and the growing influence of AI-led applications.

“As networks transform to support new usage patterns and intelligent services, Nokia remains committed to partnering with telcos to build scalable, high-performance and future-ready connectivity infrastructure,” Vibha Mehra, Country Manager – Designate for India, Nokia, said.

The report stated that metro circles continue to lead 5G adoption, with the 5G technology now accounting for 58 per cent of total mobile data traffic in these markets.

On the device ecosystem front, the number of active 4G devices reached 892 million in 2025, of which over 383 million are already 5G-capable.

The transition is being fuelled by a massive 10-fold year-on-year growth in budget 5G phone shipments (priced under USD 100). Over 90 per cent of all smartphones shipped during the year supported 5G.

Looking ahead, the Nokia MBiT Index projects that India’s 5G subscriber base could exceed 1 billion by 2031.