According to a MBIT index study conducted by Nokia Siemens Networks, the 3G infrastructure provider for most of the networks in India, it has been revealed that the mobile data usage in the country has almost doubled in the period of December 2011 – 2012. The main reason for the increased usage in mobile data is attributed to 3 times increase in usage of 3G mobile data by consumers, mainly from, what operators call, the “A” circles. Apparently, a regular 3G user consumes an average of 434 MB per month while the average amount of data consumed by the 2G user is 115 MB per month. Ultimately, there has been a 92% total increase in the usage of mobile data, with a whopping 196% increase in 3G usage and a 66% increase in 2G usage.
It is very interesting to note that the 3G growth characteristics in India are in line with all the other high growth 3G markets in the world, at least according to Nokia Siemens, that is the case. Which brings us to the home broadband situation, which is way behind the respective high growth markets in which we are matching up in terms of 3G. Time for the telecom companies to wake up then!
According to the study, one of the main reasons for the rapid uptake in 3G usage has been found to be the mid-2012 tariff shake up, in which the prices dropped significantly. Nokia Siemens notes that the data usage has been unsurprisingly high in the “A” circles but the fact still remains that half of the users in the same circle are still 2G. So, there seems to be a ton of potential for 3G growth in the “A” circles while the uptake is unsurprisingly still rather low in “B” and “C” circles, they say.
We are half way through 2013 already, and with more and more smartphones getting into the hands of consumers, we are sure that mobile data consumption in India is going to be one of the most important ways of accessing Internet. We hope there is news of doubling of 4G data usage an year from now. Too unrealistic? Lets hope for the best.