Though the mobile services market in India is set to reach 1.2 trillion INR in 2013, telecom operators may have little to smile about. And believe it or not, WhatsApp and Facebook are said to be part of the issues.
According to a Gartner report, as adoption of mobile devices by consumers accelerates in the nation, the number of new connections is expected to climb up to a whopping 770 million this year. It will mean an 11 percent increase or 58 million more telecom service subscribers as set against 2012.
This should result in operators pulling in 1.2 trillion INR in revenues by the end of 2013. The projected figures indicate that there will be an 8 percent rise in earnings as compared to last year. But the problem lies in the gloomy outlook with relation to average revenue per unit (ARPU).
So telecommunications companies may hope to do better when it comes to the number of customers they attract. But the profits scooped in per unit may not be something to celebrate about. There are two factors which play their parts here.
Firstly, the competition in the country is quite fierce. Next, service providers have to face the likes of Facebook and WhatsApp when it comes to messaging facilities. The growing use of VoIP and the impending termination of national roaming services do not paint a brighter picture either.
But it may not be all that bad for telecom companies if they concentrate on delivering useful local mobile apps as well as smaller broadband plans, says Gartner’s Shalini Verma. Just recently, Aircel was seen taking a step in the right direction by introducing Pocket Internet cards costing 5 INR, 14 INR, 29 INR and 98 INR.
If companies do not look towards such opportunities, it’s possible that the nation will show for 12 percent of global mobile connections, and only 2 percent of worldwide services revenue on this front in the current year. While Apple is not a network provider, the success of its products is backed hugely by the iTunes apps ecosystem, surely an example worth learning from.
More details on the mobile services market in India can be found in Gartner’s Forecast Analysis: Mobile Services, Worldwide, 2011-2017, 1Q13 Update as well as Forecast: Mobile Services, Worldwide, 2011-2017, 1Q13 Update.