India Had 261 Mobile Million Subs End March; Only 3.9 Million Broadband Subs

 

 

Recently , I read some interesting statistics , India has become the second largest wire less network in the world with over 261 Mn mobile subscribers. This creates an enormous opportunity for the Mobile eco system which includes equipment , handsets and above all mobile content. Reliance took the leap by offering the handsets at throw away prices to start this rally. Now the mobile companies should think on the data pricing to kick start a boom on the mobile content market.

With a smart phone , I have clocked almost 189MB of data last month . With my broadband usage on my home PC  was 400 MB. This means I browse more content on my handheld than on my PC because of  file down load through my broadband. This trend is clear by the number of content aggregators proving content for mobile phones - smart  or feature phones alike.

At the same time , India's network infrastructure needs a great overhaul to cope with the demand and the number 2 status we have in subscriber base.

" As per a TRAI release, India became the second largest wireless network in the world, by the end of March. India now has over 261.09 million wireless subscribers, with 10.16 million subscribers added in March 2008 alone. If I remember correctly, we were adding between 7-9 million subscribers every month last year, so the rate of addition of subscribers appears to be increasing. The teledensity is now at 26 percent. March was a particularly good month, given the context that 8.53 million subs were added in February.

Download the report here. "

 

At the same time , India's network infrastructure needs a great overhaul to cope with the demand and the number 2 status we have in subscriber base.

India scored 4.06 garnering a rank of 50 out of 127 countries on a Networked Readiness Index (NRI) ranking for 2007-200. The report published by the World Economic Forum in cooperation with INSEAD basis rankings on 70 indicators, more details here. The report covers 127 economies, accounting for around 95 percent of the world’s GDP. 

Since 2002, the largest variable regression in India’s Network Readiness Index is in its Market environment which deteriorated from a rank of 28 in 2006 to 49 in 07. Surprisingly, the only improvement has been in the Political and regulatory environment which has improved from 48 to 47 during the same period. The graph below maps trends from 2002 - 2007.

Do a head to head with China and a few surprises come up. India leads in venture capital availability with a score of 4.12 compared to China (2.98). Counter this with the fact that China betters India on a majority of consumption metrics including Internet users, bandwidth, mobile telephone subscribers and internet access in schools. Overall, India’s network readiness index has dropped from 44 in 06 to 50 in 07, it has remained consistent in its non performance in 07-08. China is currently at 57. The list of most networked economies of the world is is led by Denmark (5.78), followed by Sweden (5.72) and Switzerland (5.53). In descending order of rankings for favourite immigrant haunt, US (4), UK (12), Canada (13) and Australia (14). In case you are a cricket fan, we lead Pakistan (89) by 39 ranks.