3G coverage in India is projected to grow significantly in next two years. According to an estimate by Global mobile phone industry body GSM Association, the country will have more than 100 million 3G connections by 2014 – highest in the world.
“There are now more than 10 million HSPA (3G) connections across the country, and this is expected to grow by 900 per cent, to more than 100 million connections in 2014,” GSMA Director General Anne Bouverot said after opening its first permanent office in the country here. India will then surpass China, Japan and the U.S to become the largest HSPA market in the world, she notes.
Bouverot also expressed hope that India will soon surpass the U.S to become the second largest mobile broadband market, only next to China. She said India would have 367 million mobile broadband connections by 2016.
“The mobile industry in India is set for immense growth as mobile broadband technologies such as HSPA and LTE (Long Term Evolution) start to proliferate, but there is scope for far greater development,” she said.
Bouverot also stressed that the Indian government should release and allocate spectrum in a fair and transparent way to all stake holders. “Now of course to take full advantage of this, we need operators to have access to spectrum and we call on the Indian government to release and allocate spectrum in a fair and transparent way for all stakeholders,” Bouverot said.
Source: Business Standard
Also read,
Videocon to shut down its GSM services in most circles
Reliance CDMA Tab – India’s first CDMA tablet at Rs. 12,999
Edimax launches the world’s smallest 3G router in India, at Rs. 3,999