As per a report by ASSOCHAM, WiMAX broadband subscribers in India will outnumber 3G subscribers by 2014.
As per the report, there will be 20 million 3G-based broadband subscribers by 2014 as opposed to 60 million WiMax users.
The rationale behind these numbers is the availability of 20 MHz spectrum per operator (link) and the expected lower price of WiMAX based devices (WiMAX data card is expected to be available for as little as $40, compared to $80 for 3G).
The report misses couple of points – for instance, lack of PC penetration that impacts the usage of BWA (Broadband Wireless Access).
ASSOCHAM, quite lately has been courting controversy over it’s reports and couple of industry leaders have slammed this report.
What’s your opinion on these numbers? Most importantly, BWA vs. 3G – which one do you think can potentially drive the growth in India (keeping rural India in context?)
It has been over 2 years since WiMax was first introduced in India and if it were to be successful, it should have gained traction by now. Unfortunately it has more hurdles ahead in its path. VubiQ and 60 GHz wireless technology is in the news and that has far higher data capacity than what Wimax offers.
A year ago Springboard research claimed that India will add 15.8 mn WiMax users by 2012 http://convergence.in/blog/2008/07/08/158-mn-wimax-users-in-4-years-question-for-springboard-research/ and they were silent on set of questions I sent to the analyst.
Well, if you closely follow these reports or any other which do “projections” [Rem $200 /bl Oil by Goldman Analyst Arjun Murti ?] they are for some vested interest – in this context SELL the Gears.