India likely to have 600 million broadband users by 2020: Ericsson

The mobile broadband subscriber base in India could grow to 600 million by 2020 from around 100 million now with 20 per cent of them using 4G, according to a white paper released here by Ericsson, a global leader in communication technology and services, on the occasion of its flagship technology event ‘Ericsson Connect’, organised to share its vision on Network Society.

The report says the share of data in the overall revenue of telecom operators will rise from 10-12 per cent in 2013 to 35-40 per cent in 2020, forcing operators to make substantial investment to improve infrastructure.

In the white paper ‘India 2020: bringing the networked society to life’, Ericsson said to fulfil the Indian government’s vision for a broadband-inspired growth, operators will need access to more spectrum from the government, and will need to build new network capabilities and new revenue models.

“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 per cent over the next three years. As a result, the number of subscribers able to afford smartphones and services is expected to reach over 700 million by 2020, up from 110 million in 2013,” the report 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,” Ericsson India Vice-President and Head of Strategy & Marketing Ajay Gupta said.Meanwhile, Ericsson, on Thursday, announced that its first LTE network roll out in India would be with Airtel, commencing next year.

On the occasion, Ericsson announced the Indian launch of two new products to optimise indoor coverage — the Radio Dot System and the RBS6402 picocell — thereby, completing its Small Cell Portfolio for the Indian market.