ICT Engineer

Current and Future Trends of Telecom Sector in India

Telecom is one of the fastest-growing industries in India. Today India stands as the second-largest telecommunications market in the world. The mobile phone industry in India would contribute US$ 400 billion in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) of the country in 2014.This sector which is growing exponentially is expected to generate about 4.1 million additional jobs by 2020, as per Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA). India?s Global System for Mobile (GSM) operators had 4.14 million rural subscribers as of January 2014, bringing the total to 285.35 million.

Data traffic powered by third generation (3G) services grew at 146 per cent in India during 2013, higher than the global average that saw usage double, according to an MBit Index study by Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). This great leap in both number of consumers as well as revenues from telecom services has not only provided sufficient contribution in Indian GDP growth but also provided much needed employment to Indian youth.

The Broadband services user-base in India is expected to grow to 250 million connections by 2017, according to GSMA. It also expects to see increased mobile Broadband penetration in India, with over 250 million on either 3G /4G by 2017. This has turned tide for the telecom sectorin India, as growth and profitability has accelerated in recent times. Tower companies are reaping benefits of a turnaround in the sector as operators have started investing in networks to boost data penetration. The ongoing expansion of the mobile ecosystem, coupled with demand for high-bandwidth applications and services such as video and gaming, is keeping pressure on the industry to increase the availability and quality of Broadband connectivity. Carriers will continue to pursue technological advancements to handle demand, including offloading some mobile bandwidth needs to Wi-Fi, which is proving an effective complement to mobile networks. At the same time, long-term spectrum availability, spectrum efficiency, small cells and continued backhaul improvements are likely to be a key focus to assure continued mobile Broadband momentum. This would translate to an incremental human resource requirement of about 4 million to 4.1 million in coming years.