When 3G was launched in 2010 and 4G later, the Indian telecom industry thought that the third and fourth generation access technologies will be offered at the door steps of enterprises, asking them to do more.
It was just a dream. 3G was not utilized by e-medicine projects or other major enterprise initiatives. Earlier, 3G eco-system partners promoted 3G as an access technology that can drive Indian economy and several key e-initiatives, among other things.
Indian smartphone users, who do business, are using 3G mainly for connectivity and e-mail. Ericsson Consumer Lab report — covering 4000 3G users in 18 cities – said 24 percent smartphone users are using mobile apps such as WhatsApp and WeChat for business purposes to sell products and services, expanding their reach to new customers.
Ericsson Consumer Lab report was not focused on enterprises. Its focus was on mapping mobile data usage pattern and concerns of smartphone users.
3G is yet to find a strong business case for telecoms as far as enterprises are concerned. Video is as an emerging area for telecom operators to monetize from the individual customer point of view. This will also benefit content and smartphone companies to certain extent. 20 percent of the respondents uses video during shopping. This trend can be utilized by Indian enterprises.
But socio economic boosters will not be achieved if 3G deployments by leading telecoms such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone, etc. continue in the current pattern, analysts warned.
“Mobile adoption, including 3G is mostly consumer driven. Enterprise applications segment is still in a nascent stage, and the ecosystem needs to build up before it can take off,” said Deepak Kumar, founder analyst, BusinessandMarket.net.
Have lack of opportunities impacted investment in 3G sites in India?
Also read: Idea Cellular adds 1,391 2G and 1,135 3G telecom sites in Q1 FY 2015
Some of the telecom statistics support this. Idea made 3.2 million net new customer additions in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. To support the growth, the telecom service provider deployed 1,391 2G cell sites and 1,135 3G cell sites. The number of 2G sites increased to 106,169 from 104,778 and 3G sites to 22,516 from 21,381 in fiscal 2014.
Servicing 139 million users, ARPU of Idea Cellular increased to Rs 181 in Q1 FY 2015 against Rs 173 in Q4 FY 2014. Average Realization per MB data rate improved by 1 paisa to 26.3p.
The company posted 23.6 percent increase in mobile data revenue. The net Mobile data consumer base has increased by 2.6 million to 27.9 million. The data ARPU from 2G and 3G improved to Rs 108 and Usage per Data subscriber is at 409 MB. Idea Cellular does not share enterprise specific ARPU statistics.
Ericsson says leading telecom operators are investing heavily in 3G in top cities to address consumer demands for high speed data networks.
“Network performance and app coverage are the critical areas of focus for mobile operators. Ericsson brings its solutions and global experience from leading markets to operators in India to deliver optimal consumer experience in sync with the growing needs of consumers,” said Nishant Batra, VP – Engagement Practices at Ericsson India.
Baburajan K
