The revenue for the telecom operators will keep on increasing as smartphone penetration in the country rises.
The revenue for the telecom operators will keep on increasing as smartphone penetration in the country rises. The data revenues of the industry would grow to Rs 95,500 crore in next five years, said rating agency ICRA.
Data revenues are expected to contribute 34 per cent to the total mobile service revenues from the current levels of around 20 per cent, it said.
Over the next five years, ICRA estimated that the data revenues for the Indian telecom companies would grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21 per cent. “In the last five years, data revenues for the ICRA sample of telcos traced a strong CAGR of 54 per cent from Rs3,200 crore in FY2012 to Rs 27,450 crore in FY2016. Nevertheless, when compared to international levels, the data revenues as proportion of total mobile service revenues in India are significantly lower, presenting a strong growth driver,” said Harsh Jagnani, AVP, Corporate Sector ratings.
Over the years, the revenue stream of the telecom companies has evolved from being largely driven by voice services to one with a substantial mix of data revenues.
High speed data services were started in India post the 2010 auction of data-centric spectrum. With growing data requireme-nt, the data service technology has evolved from 2G to 3G and now to 4G, by way of LTE technology.
ICRA said that as on December 2015, the broadband subscribers (3G+4G) comprised 46 per cent of the total data subscribers as against just eight per cent, as on June 2012. Now with 4G rollout, ICRA expects the proportion of mobile broadband subscribers (3G and 4G) in the total data subscribers to increase further.
“Data revenues constitute 19 per cent of the total revenues for ICRA sample of Indian telecom companies, which is significantly lower than the 40-50 per cent seen for mature international markets and 20-30 per cent seen for emerging markets. India is 3-5 years behind the developed markets in terms of roll out of data services and its penetration to a meaningful extent,” said Mr Jagnani.
He said that majority of the developed markets witnessed rollout of 3G services during the period 2004-2006. “In these markets, 3G services evolved and matured over 7-9 years before the rollout of 4G/LTE services. In India, 3G rollout began in 2011 and is still in early stage, while the 4G network rollout has started,” he added.
