Mobile broadband usage in India grew significantly in 2016, driven by the continued expansion in 3G and 4G networks. Nokia has highlighted this trend in its recently released MBiT Index report, which also discusses several other trends witnessed in the mobile broadband segment during the year. Ac­cor­ding to the report, the top three operators’ 3G and 4G footprint grew 1.25 times and 2.5 times their 2G footprint. The total data payload increased from 128 petabytes (PB) in 2015 to 165 PB in 2016. Further, 60 per cent of the incremental data payload from the 2015 level was contributed by 4G services. The long term evolution (LTE) device ecosystem grew 2.7 times from the 2015 levels as device prices continued to decline. Video and social networking together accomodated for 65-75 per cent of the data traffic in the country.

tele.net provides a snapshot of the key trends in the mobile broadband segment…

 

 

Mobile data usage

  • The overall data traffic in India inc­reased by 29 per cent from 2015 to 2016. How­ever, 2G data volumes witnessed a decline for the first time as subscribers continued to migrate to 3G or 4G services.
  • 3G remained a significant growth engine for data services, but 4G is still catching up. The average data usage per month for 3G services increased from 753 MB in 2015 to 849 MB in 2016. This can be attributed to better networks, device capabilities and the availability of a relevant content ecosystem. Meanwhile, for 4G services, the average data usage was 1,407 MB in December 2016.
  • The country had 130 million 3G subscribers and 17 million 4G subscribers, who consumed 103 PB and 22 PB of data respectively.
  • The metro and Category A circles observed a significant decline in 2G traffic and a shift towards 4G. However, with 4G still in its early stage of growth in the Category B and Category C circles, 3G continued to be the primary technology for data consumption.
  • Category A circles consumed 38 per cent of the total 4G data payload, followed by the metro (31 per cent), Category B (25 per cent) and Category C (6 per cent) circles.
  • 3G traffic continued to grow and constituted 67 per cent of the total traffic in the Category A, 57 per cent in metro, 61 per cent in Category B and 54 per cent in Category C circles.
  • 2G traffic declined for the first time in the metro and Category A circles. It increased only slightly in the Category B and Category C circles.

Device ecosystem

  • 3G device penetration increased from 32 per cent in 2015 to 38 per cent in 2016 at the pan-Indian level. Mean­while, 4G device penetration reached 12 per cent, driven by the increased availability of affordable devices. The entry-level price for 4G handsets declined to Rs 3,000 in 2016.
  • In terms of circle-wise 3G/4G device penetration, out of every 20 mobile subscribers in metro circles, 11 had a 3G-capable device and four had a 4G-capable device. The metro circles had a 22 per cent 4G device penetration, the highest amongst all circles.

Consumption patterns

  • Video remained the largest contributor to mobile data consumption by 3G users. Around 70 per cent of video consumption was via direct channels such as over-the-top (OTT) applications or websites, and 30-40 per cent was via indirect channels such as social media and general browsing. Further, 50-60 per cent of users spent their time watching Hindi videos and 35-43 per cent watching regional videos, while only 5-7 per cent watched English videos.
  • Social media and communication drove user engagement in terms of the time spent on the internet. India had around 216 million social networking users, of which more than 90 per cent accessed social networking sites using their mobile phones.
  • Among social networking sites, Face­book, with around 155 million users in India, was the most popular. Google­Plus, Twitter and LinkedIn were the other favourites. Among messaging applications, WhatsApp was the most popular with a subscriber base of 160 million, making India its largest market globally.
  • The consumption habits of 4G users remained similar on migrating from 3G services. However, a 4G user consumed 30-40 per cent more data than a 3G user with similar consumption habits due to faster download speeds, auto optimisation of content to a higher resolution and access to better handsets.

Network deployment

  • In 2016, the number of fiberised sites stood at 20 per cent of the total sites, which is lower than the level of fiberisation in many developed countries.
  • The carrier aggregation (CA) handset ecosystem is still at a nascent stage in India. In comparison, operators in developed markets have started implementing CA technology, predominantly in the 1.8 GHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum bands. However, with the recently acquired 4G spectrum, Indian operators are now well positioned to implement this technology.