As per survey India will overtake US as 2nd largest 4G phone base by 2018. This is mainly because of the attractive offers from operators like Reliance Jio and Airtel. With an approximate installed base of 340 million 4G devices, India will displace the US as the second largest market. With a base 150 million users now India is at present placed behind China and the US. US is forecasting a growth of 4G installed base from 225 million to 245 million by next year, whereas Indian market is expected to grow in a much rapid pace mainly because of the increase in adoption of mobile Internet.
Meanwhile China would continue to lead the tally with 780 million 4G devices next year, a clear growth from the present 740 million. Long-term evolution (LTE) capable smartphones added to 96% of smartphones shipments in India in the second quarter of 2017 but in terms of installed base half of the smartphones are still working on 3G or 2G networks according to studies. LTE installed base handsets crossed 150 million units in India making it third after China and US. With the arrival of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) the prices of 4G will come down and it is going to be faster. The biggest advantage of VoLTE is that the quality of the call is much superior to 3G or 2G connection and more data can be transferred over 4G than 2G or 3G. Up to three times as much data as 3G and up to six times as much as 2G can be transferred and this makes the sound quality of the call better and also the tone of the voice. VoLTE calls are HD voice call and it provides a much better and richer call experience to the user. It provides improved coverage and connectivity and it can connect calls up to twice as fast as the current methods. The other interesting thing is that the 2G and 3G connections are still available if there is no 4G signal which means greater mobile coverage. With all these facilities provided by the service providers Indian smartphone market is going to expand even though it may take a while for India to overtake China.
The LTE installed base of handsets crossed 150 million units in India, placing the country third after China and the US.
“…India is estimated to surpass the US in next one year,” it said adding that the next 150 million users are estimated to take half the time as VoLTE feature phones will be bringing 4G to lower price points.
Recently, Reliance Jio has announced that it will launch a 4G feature phone against one-time refundable deposit of Rs 1,500 a unit.
It will come pre-loaded with applications with the option of unlimited data usage and free calling service starting at Rs 24.
The Counterpoint report said the mobile phone shipment in India grew marginally in the April-June 2017 quarter to 65.7 million units from the year-ago period.
About 30.4 million units of smartphones and 35.3 million units of feature phones were shipped during the second quarter of 2017.
“Although, shipments were impacted in anticipation of GST roll-out especially in June, retailers were quite hesitant in adding new stock into the channels during the last month even though there was some assurance from the OEMs to support pre- GST channel inventory clearance,” Shobhit Srivastava, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said.
Going forward, the market is expected to jump back to double digit growth ahead of a festive season in the second half of 2017, he added.
Samsung led the smartphone tally with 24.1 per cent share, followed by Xiaomi (15.5 per cent), Vivo (12.7 per cent), Oppo (9.6 per cent) and Lenovo (6.8 per cent).
Overall, Samsung had a 25.4 per cent share (feature and smartphone), followed by itel (10.2 per cent), Xiaomi (7.2 per cent), Micromax (7.1 per cent) and Vivo (5.9 per cent).
-With PTI inputs.
India will have more than 850 million online users by 2025, withReliance Jio4G triggering most of the growth which has added 100 million connections in just seven months, a survey revealed on Thursday.
“While it took the country eight years to reach 250 million 3G connections, Reliance Jio 4G network added 100 million connections in just seven months,” said the survey conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
It estimated that by 2020, half of all Internet users in India will be rural, 40 percent of whom will be women and 33 percent will be of 35 years of age or older.
“Digital’s impact is becoming pervasive across all consumer segments. This breaks the earlier trend in the country when the initial digital consumers were male, millennial and mostly metro-based,” the survey noted.
It predicted that digitally influenced spending, which currently stands at $45 billion-$50 billion (roughly Rs. 2,88,528 crores – Rs. 3,20,586 crores) a year, may increase more than tenfold to between $500 billion – $550 billion (roughly Rs. 32,058,51 crores – Rs. 35,26,436 crores).
“This will account for 30 percent to 35 percent of all retail sales by 2025,” the survey found.
The survey examined the changing behaviour of Indian consumers across more than 50 product categories through questionnaires and interviews with more than 10,000 consumers in 30 locations nationwide.
VoLTE stands for voice over LTE and it’s more or less exactly what it says on the tin. It’s voice calls over a 4G LTE network, rather than the 2G or 3G connections which are usually used. We tend to think of 4G as mostly being about downloading, streaming and web browsing, and indeed that’s primarily what it’s been used for so far, but it can also be used to improve calls.
What are the benefits of VoLTE?
Superior call quality – The big advantage of VoLTE is that call quality is superior to 3G or 2G connections as far more data can be transferred over 4G than 2G or 3G. Up to three times as much data as 3G and up to six times as much as 2G to be precise, making it easier to make out not only what the person on the other end of the line is saying, but also their tone of voice. Essentially it’s an HD voice call and it’s a much richer experience over all. Improved coverage and connectivity – VoLTE can connect calls up to twice as fast as the current methods and as 2G and 3G connections will still be available when there’s no 4G signal it simply means that there’s greater mobile coverage overall, as currently places with a 4G signal but no 2G or 3G means that one you can’t make or receive calls.
