'India could have 270 mn 3G subscribers by 2013'

NEW DELHI: India could be the largest 3G market among emerging countries as 270 million subscribers are expected to use these high-end value added mobile services in the next five years, says a research agency.

The guidelines have been already issued for 3G services and the Government hopes to roll out high-end mobile services by December.

"In terms of subscribers, India is going to be the largest market for 3G users among all emerging markets...India could have 270 million users subscribing to 3G services by 2013," research agency Strategy Analytics VP, Wireless Practice, David A Kerr said.

The research agency said 3G subscribers would constitute more that one third of the total wireless users in the next five years.

Initially, the subscribers would come from metro and 'A' category cities, and enterprises and business customers would make the largest chunk of it, it said. "India has 700 million untapped customers and it is very much possible to have 270 million 3G subscribers in next five years."

At present, the country's total mobile subscriber base is about 290 million.

"At the initial stage corporate and enterprise users as well as tech-savvy young generation would drive this market," Kerr said.

Source : Economic Times