Data revenues for Indian telecom network operators are set to double to $11 billion by 2017-18, said brokerage firm CLSA.
By EB Bureau
Reliance Jio Infocomm, which has delayed the 4G service launch to 2016, is likely to drive the mobile Internet market in India. Bharti Airtel, which has presence in both 3G and 4G markets, is expected to gain from the upcoming boom.
Even as existing telecom network operators have begun to focus on content, the main differentiator will be network delivery, or the quality and download speed — areas that have intensified ahead of Reliance Jio’s entry.
Meanwhile,Juniper Research today said the value of digital content transactions paid for by carrier billing is expected to reach $47 billion by 2020, more than 4 times 2015’s figure of just under $11.3 billion.
The telecom analysis report indicates investment in spectrum and network will make the difference in the Indian telecom market place. Earlier, some media reports suggested that both Vodafone and Idea Cellular will be forced to make investment in spectrum and telecom infrastructure to take on Airtel and Reliance Jio.
CLSA says data revenues will more than double to $11 billion and drive a 9 per cent compounded annual growth rate in the industry revenues to $34 billion, despite the low penetration of data on mobile.
The 3G / 4G adoption has picked up with subscribers tripling over the past two years to 133 million, penetration is still low at mere 13 percent.
India has 312 million mobile data subscribers and mobile data penetration in the country is just 31 percent.
