Over 100 million mobile broadband users by 2015

NEW DELHI - India will have more than 100 million third generation (3G) mobile broadband users, generating about Rs.940 billion in revenues by the end of 2015, according to global advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The number of mobile connections will cross the one billion mark by 2014, it said.

A PwC study said reduced cost of 3G/high speed packet access (HSPA) enabled handsets will be the key driver for mobile broadband in India.

“The main driver for mobile broadband will be 3G and HSPA technology, while long term evolution and in some cases WiMax, would mainly cater to the enterprise segments,” said Siddharth Vishwanath, associate director, PwC.

“However, notwithstanding the fairly optimistic demand side scenario, spectrum remains a key constraint on the supply side for growth of mobile broadband service,” he added.

High speed access will enable content developers offer diverse interactive content including content in regional languages which will lead to the growth in their revenue, it added.

Content owners will move beyond operator portals and onto direct services via Internet. This will also see advertising driven models, offering benefits to the users, with advertisers partly footing the bill, the report said.

According to the study, India’s mobile subscription has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 30 percent. However, the bigger challenges the industry faces today are low rural penetration, stagnant data usage and limited broadband services