Indian Telcos Struggle with 5G Monetisation 6G launch may delayed due to poor roi coai all details

The launch of 6G technology may be delayed due to lack of revenue generation from 5G service and telecom operators getting low return on investment (ROI). SP Kochhar, Director General of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), told a press conference that recently there was a thorough discussion on the subject in the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025, where it was revealed that telecom companies should contribute from the Communication Over Doporms to reduce the weight of network infrastructure. Saying Mr. Kochhar, if the solid use cases of 5G do not come up in the next 2-3 years, then the launch of 6G service can move after 2030.

Business Standard UnderMr. Kochhar said in the press briefing, “The average ROI of telecom companies in India is only 4%, making it difficult for him to make new investments on a large scale.” COAI represents private telecom companies like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (VI). The organization believes that telecom companies have to make large investments to maintain their network due to heavy data traffic generated by OTT service. In such a situation, 4-5 large traffic generating OTT platforms should pay to telecom companies as ‘Fair Share Charge’ (FSC).

He further stated that representatives of many countries in MWC agreed that 11 telecom operators have been closed due to lack of profits in recent years and this number could increase. He said that OTT platforms are not yet sharing revenue with telecom companies at global level. In Europe, America and Southeast Asia, support for this demand is also increasing.

According to the Global Mobile Industry Body GSMA, telecom companies have spent 85% of the total network investment, which does not include end-user devices. Also, increasing expenses on technology like GPU and AI and lack of immediate montage of 5G are also a matter of concern.

In her press brief, Mr. Kochhar further stated that Indian telecom companies have ordered graphics processing units (GPU) and will soon include them in their network infrastructure. GPU is being used to manage large-scale data analytics, network optimization and AI-Drive Service. According to him, the efficiency of the telecom network is increasing through AI and unnecessary expenses are also decreasing.