India telecom market

India:

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has unveiled new figures on telecom teledensity in the country. With about 120m telephone users – 48.5m fixed and 71.5m mobile – teledensity is yet very low at about 11%-12%. In urban areas, teledensity can be up to 30%- 35%, but in rural areas it is as low as 2%. The Department of Telecommunications (DOT) has set a target of doubling telephone penetration to 250 m lines and reaching a teledensity of 22% by 2007. The target is also to reach 20m broadband users by 2010, from current 750k. As operators already have multi-million waiting list, and India' s middle class is expanding rapidly, demanding for telephone services, operators have to at least double the current infrastructure. So the market should be big: Gartner forecasts India will spend $16.3bn on telecom services and equipment in 2006, up 27%, growing to $31bn in 2009, and a CAGR of about 23% over the 2004-2009 period. As a consequence, all vendors are rushing in India, and several major multinational vendors are unveiling billion-dollar investment plans.