|
India’s mobile broadband market to boom
With 36cr mobile broadband connections in 4 yrs, India is set to become the world’s 2nd largest mobile broadband market by 2016
Binny Sharma
New Delhi
 |
|
Anne Bouverot(C), director general, GSMA
Photo: Naveesh
|
|
WITH 36.7 crore mobile broadband connections in four years, India is set to become the world’s second largest mobile broadband market by 2016, said Anne Bouverot, director general, GSMA on Tuesday.
She informed that India will be overtaking the 33.7 crore connections in the US but will remain a long way behind the 63.9 crore connections forecast for China.
“High Speed Downlink Packaghe Access (HSPA) connections in the country are expected to grow from 1 crore currently to 10 crore in 2014, making India the largest HSPA market in the world,” pointed Bouverot.
“India will become the largest HSPA market worldwide within the next two years surpassing China, Japan and the US in the progress.
While talking about the recent 2G licences cancellation, Bouverot said, “The Indian government should facilitate the timely release of additional spectrum in a fair and transparent way for all the stakeholders.”
GSMA has opened a permanent office in New Delhi and has appointed Sandeep Karanwal as its head.
Karanwal said, “ We recognise the huge potential of this ever expanding Indian market and that’s the reason we are opening office in New Delhi.”
So far GSMA represents 800 of the world’s mobile operators and is spanning in more than 220 countries.
“It is an exciting time to launch our new office, as India is an increasingly critical market for the mobile industry, both commercially and in policy terms, through its influence throughout Asia Pacific and the world,” said Bouverot.
“India is taking great strides towards the uptake of data and already has the third largest internet subscriber base in the world with more than 10 crore users, and the second largest Facebook subscriber base in the world with 43 crore users,” said Sanjay Kapoor, CEO — India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel.
“Various studies have shown that a 10 per cent increase in mobile penetration could lead to 1 per cent increase in GDP, and a 10 per cent increase in Mobile Broadband penetration could deliver a 1.4 per cent increase in GDP. Along with 2G and 3G, when 4G is deployed, India will be at the forefront of cutting-edge Mobile Broadband provision globally. We are delighted to work with GSMA to help expedite this phenomenal growth and deliver Mobile broadband to every corner of India,” he added.
fwletters@gmail.com
|
