Ericsson white paper: Mobile
Broadband to drive India’s digital vision
·
White Paper talks about the role of government and
industry towards bringing the Networked Society to life in India by the year
2020
·
India can reach 600 million mobile broadband
subscribers with 20 percent of mobile broadband subscriptions on 4G in 2020
·
Data share in overall revenue of telecom operators to
rise from 10-12 percent in 2013 to 35-40 percent in 2020
Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) today
released a White Paper entitled “India 2020: Bringing the Networked Society to
Life” on the role of government and industry towards making ‘Digital India’ a
reality by the year 2020. According to the Ericsson White Paper, to fulfill the
Indian Government’s Vision for broadband inspired growth, operators will need
access to more spectrum from the government and will themselves need to build
new network capabilities and new revenue models so that a viable, long-term
strategy can be evolved.
Heterogeneous networks with a mix
of macro cell sites, small cells and Wi-Fi hotspots will be fundamental to
manage coverage, capacity and quality of performance for users.
Smartphone prices are expected to
fall by 40-50 percent over the next three years. As a result, the number of
subscribers able to afford smartphones and services are expected to reach over
700 million by 2020, up from 110 million in 2013. The number of mobile
broadband subscribers is expected to grow from 70 million in 2013 to 600
Million subscribers in 2020, with 20 percent of the mobile broadband
subscriptions expected to be 4G in 2020.
The increasing number of
subscribers, growing affordability of smartphones, and government initiatives
such as the National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) will drive internet
connectivity in India. User demand for internet access will drive WCDMA/HSPA
population coverage from 20 percent in 2013 to 90 percent in 2020. Ericsson
estimates that the estimated blended data usage per subscriber in 2020 will be
600-850 MB.
The revenue mix of Indian
operators is expected to evolve to include a higher contribution from
data-driven 3G and 4G service revenues in future. Data revenues will represent
an increasing proportion of the total, and are expected to rise from 10–12
percent in 2013 to 35–40 percent by 2020, driven by a growth in data
subscribers as well as usage per subscriber. Opportunities in emerging services
such as m-health, m-education, m-commerce and m-banking are expected to have
long-term potential as operators, regulators and other value chain players
(such as device vendors, content providers and app developers) increase their
focus and take initiatives to promote health, education and financial inclusion
among the population.
Fueling and sustaining mobile
broadband growth in India will require access to additional radio spectrum; it
is the basic resource required for building efficient networks able to serve
large numbers of subscribers generating large amounts of traffic.
Ajay Gupta, Vice President and
Head of Strategy & Marketing at Ericsson India, says: “Mobile Broadband
will be the platform on which the ‘Digital India’ vision can be delivered. For
this we will need the release of additional spectrum in the relevant bands.
This will contribute to affordability of services, and harmonization of
spectrum will allow a lower-cost device ecosystem to evolve. Operators in India
have far less spectrum than their peers globally with high mobile broadband
penetration. Spectrum will play a key role in driving mobile broadband growth
in India in the long run, and will be an increasingly important driver of
capacity, user experience, and quality.”
The White Paper proposes that the Indian government’s broadband
penetration target of 600 million connections by 2020 can be achieved if
sufficient spectrum is made available in a timely way in globally harmonized
bands. Additionally, industry and government must work together to ensure contiguity
of spectrum to deliver higher bandwidth per user. The availability of sub-USD50
handsets, accelerated and streamlined spectrum allocation process,
differentiated 3G and 4G networks based on high speeds, attractive data
packages and good user experience will be critical to driving demand in India.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Download high-resolution photos and broadcast-quality
video atwww.ericsson.com/press
Ericsson is the driving force behind the Networked Society – a world
leader in communications technology and services. Our long-term relationships
with every major telecom operator in the world allow people, businesses and
societies to fulfill their potential and create a more sustainable future.
Our services, software and infrastructure – especially in mobility,
broadband and the cloud– are enabling the telecom industry and other sectors to
do better business, increase efficiency, improve the user experience and
capture new opportunities.
With more than 110,000 professionals and customers in 180 countries, we combine global scale with
technology and services leadership. We support networks that connect more than
2.5 billion subscribers. Forty percent of the world’s mobile traffic is carried
over Ericsson networks. And our investments in research and development ensure
that our solutions – and our customers – stay in front.
Founded in 1876, Ericsson has its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden.
Net sales in 2013 were SEK 227.4 billion (USD 34.9 billion). Ericsson is listed
on NASDAQ OMX stock exchange in Stockholm and the NASDAQ in New York.
No comments:
Post a Comment