India is leading mobility growth globally and has the fastest growth for new mobile subscriptions with 18 million net additions in Q3 2014, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report.
By Nandagopal Rajan
This is a substantial chunk of the 180 million connections added globally, just under rest of Asia (excluding China) and Africa as a whole, and largest for any country. However, the most interesting aspect of this growth will be that by 2020, 45 per cent of the country’s population will be covered by LTE.
At present the number under LTE in India is insignificant. By then, more than 95 per cent of the Indian population will be covered through GSM/EDGE technology, and over 90 per cent on WCDMA/HSPA networks, says the report. Globally, the growth of LTE will be at the cost GSM/EDGE, shows the report.
The report says “mobile data user demographics are evolving fast in India, with mobile broadband starting to bridge the digital divide between the rural and urban populations”. “Mobile data usage and services are becoming increasingly mainstream, with a growing proportion of people from lower-income groups now downloading apps and streaming video content from the internet using mobile devices,” it adds.
The report shows that mobile usage is becoming increasingly data driven. In fact, mobile broadband users now send 40 out of every 100 messages through instant messaging apps, rather than SMS, thanks to lower cost, ease of use, ease of content sharing, and a better overall user experience.
Similarly, on an average, 3G smartphone users download 10 new apps per month, of which chat and gaming apps account for more than 35 percent While 61 percent of mobile broadband users are more willing to pay extra for an improved indoor connectivity experience, 80 per cent of mobile broadband users in India want to pay more for rich experience indoors.