With the spreading of mobile services in the rural areas, the Indian telecom industry is expected to earn revenue of over $30 Billion by 2013.
According to the global research firm 'Gartner', the Indian telecom sector will maintain its growth trajectory and is expected to generate revenue of more than $30 Billion by 2013, as reported by Economictimes.
The total number of telecom subscribers in India is projected to reach 770 Million by 2013 from the present level of 450 Million subscribers. The research firm also reveals that the mobile penetration is likely to scale up from 38.7% at present to 63.5% by 2013. Moreover, the number of people using pre-paid connection will rise to account for around 96% of the total number of subscribers by 2013. The mobile industry in India will continue to see the domination of pre-paid subscribers.
The growth will largely be driven by telecom operators concentrating on the rural market. Electronic and local consumer durable companies are also contributing to the growth by launching low-priced handsets and entering domestic mobile handset segment.
Moreover, the higher adoption of value-added services (VAS) will stimulate growth that is equally relevant for both urban and rural markets. Although the major proportion of revenue for telcos stems from the voice services, data services will witness fast growth in future.
Voice tariffs will continue to fall in future as new operators make their way into the industry and increase competition. Expansion of services in rural areas will drop average revenue per user (ARPU).
There is no impact of economic downturn on the growth of mobile subscribers as Indians consider communication an inevitable part of life.
However, the Indian telecom industry is unlikely to left behind its counterpart in China to become the world's largest market, but will maintain its current position of the second-largest market.
According to a Research Analyst at RNCOS, "The Indian telecom industry has come out of hyper growth mode but will maintain its double-digit growth in the next three years owing to operators increasing focus on rural areas of the country, Meanwhile, several multinational companies providing mobile service have entered joint venture and are investing in new services. This will intensify the competition in the market."
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