3G Attracts 9 Million Users In 4 Months

The third generation (3G) has created a rage since its launch four months ago, garnering at least 9 million active users ever since. This number holds special significance taken into consideration that till date, there are only 11 million wireline broadband customers.

Bharti Airtel leads the 3G race with with 3 million active subscribers closely followed by Tata DoCoMo with 1.5 million subscribers. BSNL, Idea Cellular and Vodafone have about a million 3G subscribers each. Reliance communications was reluctant to disclose the numbers, but reliable sources revealed that it also had close to a million subscribers.

Despite poor quality of service to the customers, the numbers are clearly on a rise. This may #-Link-Snipped-#be due to the initial interest triggered by several companies, or because of the several facilities promised with a 3G enabled handset. “The initial trend clearly shows that 3G is giving a boost to broadband uptake in the country. Wireless is the way forward,” said Mr Alok Shende, Principal Analyst, Ascentius Consulting. Even though 3G delivers a data speed of 500-600 kbps, customers all over the country are having trouble with the frequent call drops, uneven connectivity and non-uniform speeds. “There is no excuse for operators to offer poor 3G connectivity given that technology is available to them. The initial uptake shows that there is a huge pent-up demand for broadband and operators should use that opportunity. At present, they are not even doing personalized marketing to high-end consumers who already have a 3G handset,” said Mr Kunal Bajaj, Director of technology advisory firm Analysys Mason. Also to note is the high cost of roaming, which in case of some operators, is as high as Rs 15 per MB of data downloaded, even if the subscriber is roaming on the same network.

The operators rubbished these reports stating that these are only initial troubles and they will soon achieve the target of 100 million 3G users, till 2015, if analysts are to be believed. Mr Shireesh Joshi, Chief Marketing Officer -Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel, said, “The initial response from customers has been overwhelming - but we believe the revolution has just begun. The game changing differentiators for 3G in India will be content and services and not price points.”
The 3G revolution is here to stay, and with time, the problems teething now will soon be eradicated, and the customers will have the ultimate digital pleasure, guarantee the operators.

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