Increasing mobile broadband will change radio listening
Towards the end of 2015, India reached 1 billion mobile subscriptions, joining its neighbor China by becoming only the second member of the 1 billion club, according to global analyst firm Ovum. In a new forecast report it was found that comparisons were inevitable, though China reached this milestone almost three years ago.
Like India today, China was then at 80% subscription penetration with 10% of its subscriber base on 3G. India’s mobile broadband curve is still steep and will pass the 500 million mark by 2018, accounting for just under half of all subscriptions. Growth will be driven by continued declines in 3G and 4G smartphone prices, creative and cheap data plans, and continued proliferation of apps and data services appealing to a broad range of consumer segments.
At present India is set for an industrial boom surpassing China. There is a significant manufacturing sector for smartphones in India where quite advanced smartphones are at sale for as low as $80 and according to other research smartphones will totally dominate the the mobile phone market by 2022. This will also have implications for the distribution of radio as listeners are in a transition from stand-alone sets to smartphones with for India a typical capability for both radio on-line and FM radio.
Also read
