Indian Mobile Connections to go Beyond 600 Million

The total mobile connections in India will go beyond 600 million, with a growth rate of 27.3 percent in 2010 says Gartner in its latest report. By the end of 2014, total mobile services revenue in India is forecast to exceed $23 billion, and India is expected to remain the world’s second largest wireless market after China in terms of mobile connections. Gartner also says that Mobile service revenue in India will reach $19.8 billion by the end of 2010, up 19.7 percent from 2009.

Gartner says that the main reason for this growth will be the increase in penetration, which is expected to grow to 55.9 percent in 2010 and reach 72.5 percent in 2012. Mobile market penetration is projected to increase further to 82 percent by 2014, mainly due to the service providers increasing their focus on the rural market and lower handset prices.

“The arrival of new players in the Indian mobile sector has led to fierce competition which has sustained the strong subscriber growth we saw in 2009,” said Neha Gupta, Senior Research Analyst at Gartner. However she also says that the Indian mobile services market is going through a state of flux, with the arrival of many new players leading to a decrease in price points for the industry.

“The increase in competition in the Indian mobile market has led to price wars which have in turn led to a decline in voice Average Revenue per User (ARPU), and we expect this trend to continue as service providers increasingly shift their focus to rural areas,” Gupta said. “Expect a dramatic decline in growth of voice revenue from 2010 until the end 2014, although this will be balanced by increased revenue from data services which will significantly contribute to the overall growth of mobile services in India.”