Global Telcos Come Calling as Indian Mobile Market Grows

By preshit • September 1, 2008

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It shouldn’t come to you as a surprise that the Indian Mobile Market is growing at an alarming rate, with the total mobile subscriber base almost touching the 300 million mark. We’ve been covering the industry’s every move here on WATBlog as it happens and as your may know, everyone is eagerly anticipating the launch of 3G services in the country.

With the opening of received bids set to take place on September 22nd, 2008, all eyes are set to any word coming from the Department of Telecom (DoT). Not just the Indians, but even Global Telecom Companies are eyeing the Indian Mobile Market. Wanting to cash in on the 3G wave that is set to wash away the country in the coming months, Qualcomm, one of the leading mobile chipset makers has said that it is in talks with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and other mobile vendors to launch 3G enabled smartphones in the Indian market. Although there are various companies offering an array of options to the consumers already, Qualcomm is eyeing the entry-level smartphone market by introducing affordable phones with a price-tag of Rs. 10,000 or less.

VP and Country Manager of Qualcomm, speaking to PTI, said that the company would work with OEM partners to make smartphones a mass-use product. Presently, the company has tie-ups with various OEMs including ZTE, Huawei, LG, Samsung, HTC. ZTE is also eyeing the Indian market with plans to launch self-branded handsets of their own.

But is high cost of handsets really the major issue here? I think not. Nokia, inarguably, is the dominant handset manufacturer in India. Along with Sony Ericsson, it holds majority of the phones available in the Indian market today. Unlike Apple, which has severely crippled the iPhone, Most of the newer phones from these companies are highly feature-rich, a majority of which come 3G enabled. Any average user, who is looking forward to prepare himself for the 3G era, will go in for a manufacturer that has been trusted over the years, than someone like this.

Moreover, it still isn’t certain what the rentals and data plan charges would be like when 3G finally arrives. For the average Indian mobile subscriber, the data plan charges currently charged by their providers are already high. Every telecom company is set to put in high amounts of investment in order to win the 3G license for the Indian telecom circles. I’m finding it hard to predict the rentals that would be charged by the telecom companies for 3G services.

What the Indian telecom market really needs, in that case, in competition. The government recently issued licenses to several new mobile service providers to provide their services in the country including Reliance, Datacom Solutions, S-Tel etc. Apparently, realizing the potential growth possibilities in the country, Telenor, the 7th largest telecom company in the world is planning a foray into the Indian telecom industry. Business Standard reports that a high-level team from Norway was in the country recently to talk to the present GSM-license holders for possible majority stakes.

Telenor already has its presence in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand among the Asian countries with a total subscriber base of over 143 million.

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Categories: Mobile, News, Technology
Tags: 3G, handsets, india, Mobile, nokia, telecom, zte

About the Author

preshit

Preshit is our social media celeb with one of the most active Twitter profiles in India. However, his Macaddiction (Apple Fanboy for those who thought that was a typo) is legendary and conveniently spills on to watblog as well. Preshit's the guy who scouts and posts news and runs the technology side of WAT

One Response to “ Global Telcos Come Calling as Indian Mobile Market Grows ”

Telecom solutions India Sep 1st, 2008 at 4:27 pm

I’m sure the prices would be extremely high for the 3G services … mainly because the investments are very high for a small clientele in india … which is mainly because the phones are very expensive and can’t be afforded by most …
so to cover up their high investments… the rates will definitely have to be very high … else the service providers would have to incur heavy losses….
Even if the phones get cheaper .. and more competition arrives among the service providers … i still think it will be very difficult for 3G to be as successful as it is in other countries.