Its a paradox of sorts as history keeps repeating itself in the mobile telephony space. So the much awaited 3G auction will need to wait a little over 2 weeks more if latest reports are to be believed. According to reports DoT has postponed the auctions for 3G spectrum by two weeks to January 30. The earlier date announced was that of 16th January which was itself a postponed date in the first place.
Most industry analysts and experts believe that 3G would be used for voice as the average revenue per user via data would be dismal and hence the need to use 3g spectrum for better voice transmission. The same point was illustrated by Alok mittal of canaan partners at the recent WATBlog Panel in Delhi.
So while the delay in 3G auction repeats itself there another repeat of sorts and thats in the mobile userbase which keeps hitting the 10 million growth mark each month. As per numbers released by TRAI November has been another 10 million month for the mobile subscriber growth story. Though the number is slightly less than october month its 10 million plus none the less. While October saw a wireless growth of 10.42 million November has seen a wireless growth of 10.35. While wireline has seen a consecutive negative growth in October and November. Also while mobile subs were clocking 10 million plus broadband users modestly added another 0.23 million subscribers taking the broadband tally to 5.28 million subscribers.
Key highlights for the month of November are:
- 10.35 million Wireless Subscribers added in November 2008.
- Total mobile subs touch 335 million
- Broadband subscribers reaches 5.28 million mark with an addition of 0.23 million subscribers.
- Tele-density reaches 32.34% mark.
Compare this to last months figures here.
So 3G or no 3G.. Downturn or slowdown the mobile subscribers seems to be adding 10 million a month with no sign of a slowdown. The equation will become interesting with launch of 3G and its usage by operators and users. Also a definite rise in GPRS usage will be on the cards over 2009-10. With touch screen browser based phones storming the market one can only hope that the mobile story will over power the need for broadband.
