Mar

25

Indian Mobile Customer Base Set To Grow Ahead US Behind China

Filed Under Emerging Sectors, India Business, Indian Companies, Mobile Telecom | Leave a Comment

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a report on growth numbers in February in Telecom Space yesterday- March 24th. The total number of subscribers added in wireless segment for India is reported to be 8.53 million though the net addition to the telecom subscriber base is slightly lower at 8.49 million.

This change can be accounted due to decrease in wire line subscribers over the month. Total wireless addition increases the wireless subscriber base in the country to just over 250 million (250.93 million is forecasted).

The overall tele-density in the country has now crossed over the quarter mark (25.31%). These numbers mean that India is now poised to take over US as the second biggest wireless country based on subscriber numbers in near future.

As per projections by different regulatory bodies, US is adding 2-3 million wireless subscribers per month while India is adding above 8 million per month.

Currently the US has approximately 10 million more subscribers then India. So if we project the rates in future, then India will take over US by April and become second biggest mobile network in world. China will still be much ahead with more than 550 million subscribers.

Amongst other highlights in the reported numbers, is the fact that the growth rate of subscriber addition for Indian operators is continuing at a very high and stable rate.

Even on absolute level, India is adding more customers than China and with the tele-density still at comparatively lower levels, it would be reasonable to expect such good numbers for another 12 to 18 months.

On the operator side, Bharti is still leading the pack in adding new subscribers ahead of Reliance. Bharti added just over 2.2 million in February while Reliance Infocom added approx 1.6 million.

So another major milestone approaches for the mobile industry in India when it will become world’s second biggest network ahead of US. Indian companies have benefited to a great extent due to their lack of legacy and helpful government policies to transform the sector but their next challenge is to profitably monetize the value added services.

Mar

21

Indian Mobile TV Prospects Look Promising

Filed Under E-Business, Emerging Sectors, India Business, Mobile Telecom, New Media | Leave a Comment

I believe that the entire broadcast space is nicely poised in a balance between different mediums at present. On one hand, we have traditional mediums like TV. On the other hand, we have a newer medium like Internet, which after an initial period of hype and bust, is increasingly understood and integrated as an important channel of delivery by traditional firms. To make this mix more exciting, we now have mobile TV.

Mobile TV works on the concept that mobile devices act as an alternative distribution interface allowing customer to view broadcasts made by providers on their hand set. Although the medium is still struggling to find out the most efficient technology, the signs are encouraging that the industry is moving towards some sort of standardization. Just to take the example of the technologies, in recent times DVH - B technology is getting traction in the industry.

In any case, due to the attractive market size and focus from the providers I think that very soon we shall see emergence of a viable model where mobile TV does become attractive for operators and consumers.

As reported by Sify (”Mobile TV services in for a big leap”"), “Indian mobile phone users are ready for TV on mobile services with the target market size expected to reach $360 million by 2008, according to the recent study by Springboard Research.

According to the report, 84% of mobile phone users are interested in using mobile TV service provided the service is commonly available and affordable.

Almost 60% of these will prefer watching the same content that they get on TV at home. News, sports, music videos and game shows were the four dominant types of content that the surveyed users will prefer watching on mobile TV.”

So on one hand, we have providers using Internet to redefine the ways in which to watch TV (youtube.com) and on the other hand, we have TV on mobile that is providing alternate channel for the broadcasters to reach the viewers. To make it more interesting, internet on mobile is a reality for a large numbers today so in fact viewers can already watch sites like youtube.com that are trying to replace TV broadcasters.

To conclude, there are multiple battles going on in this space and the viewers have abundance of choices. On one level, we have choice between traditional broadcasters and newer internet models in defining what content to watch and how it will be done. On another level, we have choice of where to watch the content between computers, traditional television sets and now mobiles. The providers that can work out the right answers have a lot to gain.

About the Author: Yogesh Dashrath is finance business professional based in Europe. He actively tracks Indian business developments and is a frequent contributor to India-Business-Review.com. He is an alumnus of IIM Lucknow, and can be reached using the Contact page.

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