The speed of mobile broadband connection is the lowest in India compared with
China, Korea Australia and New Zealand, rest of Asia Pacific and the Western
nations.
While India and China lag well behind, with average access speeds of only 19
kbps and 50 kpbs, respectively, these speeds are projected to grow at nearly
100 percent in both countries and cross the 1,000 kbps mark by 2015.
At present, average connection speeds realized in Japan and South Korea are
already the highest in the world, with average speeds of 1,400 kbps in 2010,
nearly three times higher than a Western averagex.
By 2015, operators in India will have an average mobile broadband speed of
1,037 Kbps, China (1,384 Kbps), rest of Asia Asia Pacific (1,860 Kbps), Korea
(4,984 Kbps), Australia and New Zealand (5,194 Kbps) and the West (5,509 Kbps),
according to GSMA.
This means the forthcoming LTE roll outs will not improve the speed of mobile
broadband in India comparing with other countries.
China and India will be positioned to experience the same boom in mobile data
consumption that we are currently seeing in Japan and Korea, according to GSMA.
Hope LTE roll outs will improve mobile broadband penetration. Emerging Asia
Pacific markets are showing a strong commitment to 4G. GSMA estimates that of
the forecasted 126 million LTE subscribers in the Asia Pacific region in 2015,
half will be in China.
China Mobile is targeting 60 trial networks and 20 commercial networks by the
end of 2012 and in February 2011 teamed up with Japan’s Softbank, India’s
Bharti AirTel and four European and US operators to drive the global adoption
of the TD-LTE standard.
In Sri Lanka both Mobitel and Dialog announced LTE testing in 2011, in Malaysia
Maxis started LTE testing in 2010 and in the Philippines both Smart
Communications and Globe Telecom launched 4G mobile services in April 2011.
Beyond simply rolling out new networks, operators are playing a key role in
ensuring that fast access speeds are actually also experienced by their
customers.
The mobile broadband device market will have an installed base of over 525
million units by 2016, according to analyst firm Strategy Analytics.
This expansion will be driven by device costs, more flexible tariffs, a shift
to LTE and growth in mobile hotspots for multiple devices, such as tablets and
other consumer electronics. Embedded modems, however, will experience slower
growth due to the higher cost of embedding cellular capabilities and the need
for additional data services.
India has been ranked 14 in mobile broadband readiness index among 17 Asia Pacific nations, according to GSMA.
Japan is ranked number one in the index. Singapore (2), Hong Kong (3),
Australia (4) and South Korea (5) are the in top 5. Below India, countries such
as Thailand (15), Pakistan (16) and Bangladesh (17) are finding place. While
the mobile broadband readiness index 2011 scrore for Japan is 78.7, India’s
score is 20.2. Sri Lanka, Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, New Zealand
are above India.
The inaugural Mobile Broadband Readiness Index (MBRI) indicates that countries
creating an ecosystem conducive to growth in mobile data services have the
potential to make rapid leaps ahead of their peers.
By Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com