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India : RELIANCE JIO enters the 4G network [TendersInfo (India)](TendersInfo (India) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm in the 4G space is to create a data battle in India. LTE will take some time to mature in India. 2G, 3G and 4G will co-exist for few more years. Reliance Jio Infocomm is expected to launch its 4G LTE services in September. Reliance Jio will play in both data and voice markets threatening the stability of telecom majors. The entry into the 4G world will pose challenges to established telecoms such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Aircel, etc. 3G subscribers grew 80-90% in 2013. After the auction of BWA spectrum in 2300 MHz range, only Bharti Airtel launched 4G services in India, in a select few cities. The delay in 4G launches is being attributed to regulatory uncertainty, under-developed ecosystem, unavailability of spectrum in the lower frequency range, etc. TDD based LTE technologies for the spectrum in 2300 MHz, few Indian 4G players like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are planning to embrace FDD after buying the spectrum in 1800 MHz. This will reduce ecosystem challenges expanding the device availability from international markets. It will facilitate easier international roaming for 4G subscribers. Revenue for telecom sector would grow at higher single digit over a few years, on the back of data led growth and stabilization of mobile ARPU and increase in per minute realization. Though the active subscriber growth has slowed down from 19% in FY12 to 6% in FY13 and 9% in January 14 (Y/Y), it will continue to grow in single digit, beating the total subscriber base growth. Indian mobile VAS will keep growing at double digit, though almost at the half the rate of the historical average. The M&A activity is expected to gather momentum as witnessed by the acquisition of Loop Mobile by Bharti Airtel. Considering that the acquirer has to pay market price for the spectrum of the acquired company. Indian telecom space would eventually be reduced to 5-6 large players with 1-2 regional players. (c) 2014 Euclid Infotech Pvt. Ltd. Provided by Syndigate.info, an Albawaba.com company |