What Indian 3G telecoms can learn from Ericsson ConsumerLab report?

Indian 3G telecom operators, which are bullish on the third generation mobile broadband access technology, can learn a lot from the Ericsson ConsumerLab report.

The Ericsson ConsumerLab report – announced in Delhi – illustrates the pains suffered by 3G consumers because of lack of investment in telecom infrastructure by mobile operators and poor support from the Union government to release enough spectrum.

First, Indian telecoms such as Vodafone, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular, Aircel, Airtel, BSNL, etc. need to invest more in 3G and other mobile broadband infrastructure to monetize the untapped data demands.

Second, telecoms and enterprises can utilize big data analytics to map the 3G consumer behavior to grow faster.

Third, telecoms need to invest substantially in small cells. This is because half of all mobile broadband issues faced by users occur while they are indoors. 42 percent faced problems when they were indoor, 35 percent outdoor and 23 percent while commuting, said Ericsson report.

Ericsson ConsumerLab report India July 2014

Fourth, telecom operators need to spend on customer experience management solutions that offer QoS. This apart, they need to invest in 3G or other mobile broadband infrastructure across the country. The report says 41 percent is expecting mobile operators to provide consistent mobile broadband experience to them at all times.

4 out every 10 videos played have issues with buffering and stalling.

44 percent of the time smartphone users do not have mobile broadband network coverage.

Fifth, telecoms can tap bigger opportunities by investing more for 3G infrastructure and encouraging telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to release more spectrum to ensure better quality. The report says 76 percent of existing mobile broadband users are willing to pay more for guaranteed better mobile data experience.

Sixth, broadband matters a lot for Indians. The report said 40 percent face web page load time related issues. 43 percent of web pages took more than 10 seconds to load. 58 percent want web pages to load in less than 3 seconds.

Highlight of the study among 4,000 Android smartphone users in 18 top cities.

Indians check their phones on an average 77 times a day.

26 percent of smartphone users do it above 100 times a day.

Spend 3 hours 18 minutes a day on their smartphone.

One third of this time is on apps.

63 percent increase on app usage in the past two years.

11 percent of working professionals shop online using smartphones even while at work.

24 percent use mobile apps like WhatsApp, WeChat for business purposes ( sell services, expand business, source new customers)

Mobile Broadband smartphone users spend 61 percent more time watching online video than non-users.

“Over the last two years, there has been a 57 percent increase in app usage and 20 percent increase in terms of time spent by users on smartphones. On an average, Indian consumers spend over 3 hours a day on their smartphones and 25 percent consumers check their phones over 100 times a day. Around one-third of the time spent on smartphones is for using apps and this trend is expected to continue,” said Ajay Gupta, VP – Strategy and Marketing, Ericsson India.

[email protected]