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Written by Dave Burstein
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Tuesday, 25 August 2009 22:56 |
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India attained 442M wireless subscriptions in July and will likely pass 500M by the end of the year. Wireline is declining at a rate of about 1M/lines per year and is now less than 38M. The result is that only 6.8M “broadband” lines were connected end of July. TRAI included 721K fixed wireless last quarter and presumably a somewhat higher number in the current figure. India has as many as ten competitive mobile operators in some areas, which will soon drive down 3G prices. I predict remarkable 3G growth that will soon be used by far more Internet users than wireline or fixed wireless. Deutsche Telecom is the latest to invest, hoping for a share of the Indian market. Inevitably, many of the companies will fail. Randall Stephenson of AT&T visited and was prepared to invest $billions, possibly more. He decided the prices were too high and to wait until some companies falter and he can buy in at lower prices.
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