Indian mobile phone companies, handset manufacturers and value-added services (VAS) providers will need to work hard to rev up the 3G market, a survey has shown.
Ericsson ConsumerLab, a division that tracks consumer trends in telecom products and services across the globe, has reported that there is little awareness in India of what 3G is, or the kind of mobile phone devices that enable access to this technology.
The report adds that the Chinese have embraced 3G and have started using mobile phones for internet access and other applications. Par Karlsson, head of client group, ConsumerLab, Ericsson, said 97% of those with 3G phones are not aware of it.
The study was done to understand how 3G is perceived in India. It also wanted to know that how the market needs to be developed.
Ericsson ConsumerLab tracks market behavior. The lab carried out a 3G pan-India survey covering 2,000 consumers in 14 centres at the end of 2009. The effort was to identify the early adopters of 3G and and the followers. According to the survey, around 40% of those surveyed said they were interested in having mobile broadband access to the service. These inputs could be used in product developments and innovations and also to prioritise their offerings.
Karlsson added there is a decline in the voice business, which is the company?s bread butter and this is going down because of the new consumer trends.
When it comes to applications there is no ?killer aps? in India and applications depend on whom you are targeting. In China, instant messaging, gaming and mobile TV has started catching up. According to ConsumerLab, there are similarities between China and India when it comes to consumer dynamics that is driving a lot of change. The urban-rural divide in the mobile market is similar so is the consumer behavior in urban areas. ?Young people are most similar. Young people are more advanced and are early adopters,? says Karlsson.
?Mobile broadband to change course of life?
Mobile broadband, which has just begun to impact the human life, is set to change the entire telecom industry, and will have its effect even beyond the industry, Douglas Gilstrap, head of strategy, Ericsson Group, has said.
According to Gilstrap, they have seen interest coming from the power industry, automotive manufacturers, engineering companies, pharma, education, media and governments. All of them are thinking on how best they can use wireless to improve their efficiency and grow and they know that mobility is important to their top and bottom lines and it also holds opportunities to reduce carbon footprint and power consumption, Gilstrap said. ?We are working with partners and operators and three or four are in advanced stages,? he added. ?We are now at an inflection point in many markets. We have passed the installation phase and are now entering the deployment phase of mobile broadband.? He estimates that mobile subscriptions will soon reach 7 billion and of this more than 3 billion will be mobile broadband connections and the Ericsson vision is that by 2020, there will be 50 billion connected devices.