Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Future of wireless in India

India’s Mobile Revolution is still underway baffling even the most optimistic pundits who did not anticipate such unprecedented growth.  According to TRAI, India has more than 500 Million mobile subscribers now.  That number could be inflated because many old pre-paid connections may not be valid.   Even if we believe the number is 350 Million, it is still a very big market and it is growing strong adding 10-15 Million subscribers per month – bigger than entire mobile subscribers of some European countries.

India has delayed its 3G UMTS spectrum auctioning for many years now.  The question that I pose is whether India should even consider 3G UMTS or should we skip it altogether to move to FD-LTE?

UMTS or LTE

I recommend that India should hold off 3G UMTS spectrum auctioning for another year, completely skip 3G UMTS and instead embrace FD-LTE.