Has Indian telecoms improved 3G coverage?

Nokia Networks MBit Index report today said 3G data traffic in India grew 114 percent while 2G data traffic in the country increased 41 percent in 2014.

India mobile traffic increased overall by 74 percent last year.

On an average, 3G data increased 29 percent to 688 MB per month in 2014. On the other hand, 2G data increased by 48 percent to 216 MB per month during the same period.

3G users consumed 3.2 times more data than a 2G user in 2014.

Sandeep Girotra, vice president and head of India Region, Nokia Networks, said: “A surge in 3G and 4G smartphones use underlines the need for telecom operators to expand 3G network coverage and selectively roll out 4G services while modernizing the existing 2G networks.”

India has about 130 million active 3G capable devices. On the other hand, India has 5.5 million 4G devices, but there are only about 85000 active LTE subscribers.

 

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Earlier, Nokia Networks MBiT Index report said 3G in India grew 156 percent in 2013. Consumption on 3G (532MB / month / user) grew in India by almost 100 MB in 2013.

However, 3G coverage in India is limited, according to 2013 statistics. In several circles in India there is a 20-25 percent coverage gap between 2G and 3G, which, if bridged, can possibly help in delivering even stronger mobile data growth in India.

Reliance Communications, one of the leading players in the 3G market, last week said the total data customer base increased 5.7 percent q-o-q to 31.4 million including 16.7 million3G customers in Q3 fiscal 2014-15.

The total data traffic of Reliance Communications increased 16.2 percent q-o-q and 83.3 percent y-o-y to 76,434 million MB – driven by increase in data subscribers and higher data usage per customer.

Baburajan K
[email protected]