With nearly 904 million subscribers, India has the second largest telecom network globally. However, rural tele-density remains low at 41% compared to urban density of 147%. Affordable smartphones and lower call rates are expected to drive further growth. The key drivers of the industry are the proliferation of smartphones, expansion of 3G/4G networks, and mobile internet usage increasing to one-third of users by 2016. However, operators face challenges of protecting customer base, sustaining margins in rural areas with lower ARPU, lack of infrastructure in rural areas, intense price competition, and limited 3G spectrum availability.
2. Overview
Source : Forrester,TRAI
With a subscriber base of nearly 898 million, India has the second-largest telecom network in the world.
Urban teledensity stood at 147 per cent and rural teledensity is 41 per cent as of March 2013, up from 111 per cent and
21.2 per cent, respectively, in 2009.
Availability of affordable smartphones and lower rates are expected to drive growth in the Indian telecom industry
On an average, about 15 million mobile subscribers are added every month in the country
Nearly one-third of all mobile users in India are expected to access the web via their mobile devices by 2016, up from 9
per cent in 2011
The proliferation of smart phones and tablets, existing 2G network coverage across India, ongoing 3G network
expansion, and the recent launch of 4G services remain the key supply side drivers.
4. Handset Users in India
There are around 904 million telecom subscribers in India with more than 90% of the subscribers using mobile
phones.
With a teledensity of 73.32,India has the second largest subscriber base in the world.
60% of the subscribers base belong to the urban segment.
Source : TRAI Oct 2013
875.48
29.08
Wireless
Wireline
Number of subscribers ( Millions)
545.09
359.48
Urban Rural
Number of subscribers in Millions (Urban vs rural )
Indian Mobility Report – 2014 – MR team
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5. 29
28
27
26
25
24
23
22
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Growth Projections
Wireless segment growth projections at 10.1% CAGR.
Wireline segment is expected to decline by 4% CAGR due to the increasing preference to wireless devices.
Source : TRAI; DoT; Ovum; Ernst & Young analysis
Wireless subscribers growth projections (millions) Wireline subscribers growth projections (millions)
905
996
1097
1207
1329
1463
1611
1774
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
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6. Indian Mobility Report – 2014 – MR team
Strategic marketing Services
Revenue Growth
Indian telecom sector’s revenue grew by 13.4 per cent to USD64.1 billion in FY12.
Wireless and wireline revenue increased at a CAGR* of 11.9 per cent to USD40.8 billion over FY07-12
Revenues from the telecom equipment segment in FY12 stood at USD23.5 billion as compared to USD23.4 billion
in FY11.
The wireless segment (96.6 per cent of total telephone subscriptions) dominates the market, while the wireline
segment accounts for the rest
Source : TRAI; Aranca Research
Wireless and wireline revenues (USD billion)
32.1 33.1 33.3
37.7
40.8
FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12
Composition of telephone subscribers (2013 %)
58
38
3
1
Urban wireless
Rural wireless
Urban wireline
Rural wireline
7. Market Share
Bharti Airtel is the market leader, with a 21.7 per cent share of total subscription; Vodafone follows with a 17.6
percent market share.
BSNL is the market leader with a 67.7 per cent share followed by MTNL with 11.5 per cent market share in the
fixed line segment.
Source : TRAI; Aranca Research
Wireless 2013 (%) Fixed Line 2013 (%)
21.7
17.6
14.2
14
11.7
7.7
6.9
3.7
1.4 1.3
Airtel
Vodafone
Reliance
Idea
BSNL
Tata
Aircel
Unitech
Sistema
Others
67.7
11.5
10.9
5
4.1
0.9
BSNL
MTNL
Bharti
Tata
Reliance
Others
8. Mobile Apps Market
Source : KPCB
With smartphones in range of INR 4000 – 50,000, cheap data plans and availability of
mobile ready regional content and ofcourse, easy to download free apps, India is
considered to be one of the top ranking countries across App stores such as Apple
store, Google Play(Rank 3), Nokia (Rank 1), Slide me(Rank 1), and Mobango(Rank 1).
With Android getting its second biggest user base from India, the most popular mobile
operating platforms in India are Android, iOS, Blackberry and Windows Phone
platform. Also, Amazon has entered the mobile app market in India recently.
Considering the fact that, 52% of the mobile app audience comes from an age group
of 18-24, apps that are used widely by Indians are Google map, WhatsApp, and others.
Also the hanuman chalisa app is a widely downloaded by the consumers of India.
10. Mobile Ad Impressions
Source InMobi
62.8
35.4
1.8
Feature Phones Smartphones Tablets & Connected Devices
Mobile Ad Impressions Q3 2013 (%) Ad Impressions by brands Q3 2013 (%)
34 34 4 3
2
1 1 22
In most countries mobile apps (Smartphone + tablet) are recording an astounding exposure and adoption,
mobile users in India are far from joining the global bandwagon.
Nearly 84% of ad impressions in India were recorded through mobile websites as compared to a mere 16% on
mobile apps.
Due to the widespread lead of feature phones in mobile ad impression, Nokia and Samsung have emerged as the
leading manufacturers that delivered the maximum number of mobile ad impression in Q3, 2013 in India
11. The Next Big Thing - Mobile Banking
Source : Marketsimplified.com
Mobile Banking Usage (Millions)
10
53
2009 2013
Increasing usage of smartphones is directly correlated to the growth in mobile banking.
For banks, mobile banking has become the most promising medium of reaching out to their customers because
of the ability to provide services at any time or place in the world.
Application-based banking is the most efficient way of mobile banking as it is more convenient and user friendly
than the regular methods of SMS banking and net banking
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12. The Next Big Thing - Mobile Number Portability
Source : TRAI
Top States with Porting Requests in 2012-13 (Lakhs)
61.96
48.4
41.37 40.35
38.3
Karnataka Rajasthan Andhra Pradesh Maharashtra Gujarat
During the year, 47.82 million subscribers have submitted their porting requests to different service providers
for availing MNP facility.
With the telecom body in India providing freedom to switch operators without having to change their numbers,
as many as 100 million customers have availed the service till now.
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14. Internet Subscribers in India
Source : IAMAI & IMRB study
Internet Users (MM)
As on Oct 2013,there were 205 million internet users in the country. Expected to grow upto 243 million by June
2014 at which point of time, it is expected to overtake the US as the second largest Internet base in the world.
China currently leads with more than 300 million internet users while the US currently has estimated 207 million
internet users.
Internet users in urban areas is almost double of the internet users in rural areas.
205
243
Oct 2013 June 2014
Urban vs Rural (MM)
137
68
Urban
Rural
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15. Broadband Subscribers in India
Source : IAMAI & IMRB study
India’s broadband connection base increased by 0.39% to 15.19 million at the end of June 2013, from 15.13
million reported at the end of May, according to the Indian Telecom regulator TRAI.
Its worth noting that India’s target for 2010 was 20 million broadband connections, and at this rate, this target
might not be reached even by 2015.
Braodband Market Share 2013 (%)
65.6
9.3
7.2
17.8
BSNL
Bharti
MTNL
Others
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16. Sites Visited
Source : IAMAI & IMRB
Matrimonial
• Profile uploads on matrimonial sites
increased to 1.96 million in January
2013 as compared to 0.85 million in
the corresponding month last year,
a YoY growth of 130 percent.
Travel
• Railway tickets booked online in
January 2014 were 13.15 million as
compared to 4.70 million in January
2014.
Apparels & Accessories
• Online visit to branded apparels and
designer label segments have
increased by 113 percent and 41
percent respectively, when
compared to the numbers of
corresponding month last year.
Spa & Restaurants
• The online users visit to spa and
restaurant segment saw a decline
from 0.76 million in January 2013 to
0.54 million in January 2014.
Job
• The user reach for job sites is
29.37million
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21. Mobile internet capacity Usage
Source : IAMAI & IMRB study
Mobile internet subscribers by Dec 2013 (MM)
Number of 3G Users in India is expected to increase exponentially by 2015 and reach close to 100 million
subscribers.
On an average, a mobile internet user spent about Rs 198 towards internet expenses.
According to Gartner, India’s mobile services market will reach Rs 1.2 lakh crore in 2013, up 8% from 2012
revenue of Rs 1.1 lakh crore.
103
27
Urban Rural
3G Users in India (MM)
56
96
July 2013 Mar 2015
Source : PhilipCapital
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22. Mobile Internet Users in India
Age Group ( %)
Source : VSERV survey 2013
9
51
30
10
Less than 18 years 18-24 years 25-35 years More than 35
years
9
1
Men
Women
9 Out of 10 mobile internet users in India are men
69
57
44
37
Game/app Video Music Themes
Mobile Content downloaded (%) Activities on Mobile (%)
59
41
35
26
Download mobile content
Find a good deal on
something
Learn about a brand
Locate something nearby56
19 19
6
Multiple
times per
day
2-3 times
per day
Once Not at all
Social Media Usage (%)
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24. Number of Tablet Users in India
Tablet sales in 2012-13 stood at 1.9 million units as against 0.36 million units in 2011-12 witnessing a growth of
427 per cent.
Increasing usage and preference for tablets in the education sector, private enterprises and growing demand
from the smartphone and laptop users would drive the market for tablet PC over the coming year
Number of Tablet User (MM)
0.36
1.9
2011-12 2012-13
Source : MAIT
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26. Smart Phone Users in India
Source : KPCB study
Smart Phone Users as compared to top markets (MM 2013e)
354
219
94
70 67
China USA Japan Brazil India
6
Smart Phone Users % as compared to overall subscribers
India ranks fifth among the top countries for smartphone users with an estimated 67 million subscribers.
Year-on-year growth of smartphone subscribers in India stands at 52 per cent, which is expected to be the
second fastest after Taiwan at 60 per cent, among the top 30 smartphone markets in the world.
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27. Smart Phone Users in India
Source : KPCB study
Market Share of Smart Phones in India
Samsung leads the Smartphone segment in India.
There are 67 million smartphone subscribers, which is 6% of the total subscribers in India, growing at the rate of
52% YoY.
It has been predicted that India will become the world’s third largest smartphone market by 2017 after China
and U.S
43
13.3
8.3
35.4
Samsung Nokia Sony Others
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29. Opportunities in the telecom sector
•More disposable incomes, affordable handset cost ,decreasing call rates are luring consumers to go for wireless subscriptions.
Increasing wireless subscribers
•Telecom subscribers in rural areas is likely to outpace the number of subscribers in urban areas in coming areas as there is big market potential.
Untapped rural markets
•The Internet penetration is expected to grow steadily and is expected to be bolstered by government policy
•The internet penetration though slowly increasing is still low as compared to other developed countries.
Rising internet penetration
•More and more players are entering the telecom market. This ultimately favors the end consumers as they are spoilt for choices and that too at
affordable rates.
Competition
•Currently the 3G deployment in India is at a very nascent stage.The 3G services will be instrumental in stimulating future growth of the telecom industry.
3G services – Potential Growth Driver
•In the wireless communication arena, WiMAX technology has emerged as one of the most significant developments. Deployment of WiMAX would not
only enable the provision of high-speed internet services through high bandwidth spectrum but also prove to be a useful mode of communication in
inaccessible terrains.
Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) – Reaching the Last Mile
•The value added services segment is rapidly emerging as a potential revenue generator for the telecom services industry. Given that a substantial part
(around 60%) of the total VAS revenue goes into the kitty of the service providers, the development of this segment is likely to offer them an opportunity
to support their falling ARPU.
Mobile Value Added Service (MVAS) – An Opportunity to Increase the ARPU
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31. Challenges in the telecom sector
Protecting Customer
Base
•Improving customer
experience has gained
importance as a
distinctive means of
securing and
enhancing lifetime
value. The bottom-line
is that operators
cannot afford to give
them low or equal
service levels, holding
IT and implementation
issues responsible.
Sustaining margins and
improving operations
•Major growth will be
driven by the rural
Indian subscriber base,
where current
penetration is 30%
and ARPU is just INR
160. Service providers
will face the dual
challenge of serving
them cost-effectively
and giving relevant
services that will be
adopted and used.
Lack of Telecom
Infrastructure
•Lack of telecom
infrastructure in semi-
rural and rural areas
could be one of the
major hindrances in
tapping the huge rural
potential market,
going forward. The
service providers have
to incur a huge initial
fixed cost to enter
rural service areas.
Price War
•The ever-increasing
competitive intensity
in the sector, with
licenses and spectrum
in several circles
allotted to newer
operators, is also a
concern and could
lead to unrealistic
pricing levels to grab
subscribers.
Spectrum Allocation
•3G Spectrum
availability is one of
the major concerns for
the industry. Lack of
adequate spectrum
which is the most
integral part of the
mobile telephony
sector could hamper
its growth severely.
Regulatory Charges
•The regulatory charges
in the telecom sector
have a complicated
structure because
multiple levels impede
the smooth
implementation of
telecom projects in
India
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32. Conclusion
• Availability of affordable Smartphones and lower rates are expected to drive growth in the Indian telecom
industry
• Low priced mobiles with a vital features (a decent screen size, camera, storage space, high battery life &
others) will rule the market irrespective of brand
• Raise in usage by women & rural population will boost the market growth drastically
• Reduction in pricing will boost the mobile internet users significantly – different package options for rural
Vs Urban
• Specially Customized data packages will also play a major role in attracting rural mobile users to use
mobile internet
• Packages should be designed to address different segments (SEC)
• Messenger apps like WhatssApp, Wechat, Viber & others will be used widely as a medium of
communication which results of low usage of traditional SMS, MMS , e-mails and calls as well.
• More users will try & use Video calls - especially will be used widely in urban population
When it comes to Indian consumers…