Indians consumed 31 GB mobile data on average per month in 2025

Average monthly mobile data consumption per user in India increased to over 31 GB in 2025, with 18% compound annual growth rate over the past five years, revealed Nokia on Tuesday (March 31, 2026) in its 13th edition of annual Mobile Broadband Index (MbiT).

It further said that this growth was led by growing demand for data-intensive use cases such as AI applications, 4K video streaming and cloud gaming.

India’s monthly 5G data traffic grew 70% year-on-year to reach 12.9 exabytes (EB) in 2025, contributing nearly 47% of overall mobile broadband traffic.

Overall data traffic crossed 27 EB per month in 2025, driven by expanding 5G coverage and availability of affordable 5G smartphones.

The report notes that metro circles continue to lead 5G adoption, with 5G now accounting for 58% of total mobile data traffic. Growth has also accelerated across Category A, B and C circles.

The report noted that number of active 4G devices reached 892 million in 2025, of which over 383 million are already 5G capable, while over 90% of smartphones shipped during the year supported 5G.

Nokia MBiT report projects that India’s 5G subscriber base could exceed 1 billion by 2031. It said that India now has the world’s second largest 5G subscriber base and second highest level of 5G data consumption.

“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,” said Vibha Mehra, Country Manager – Designate for India, Nokia.