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India rushes for EDGE

August 13, 2004

Recently in Delhi, three major mobile operators announced the launch of high-speed services that will allow users to, among other things, check mail and watch short video clips on their mobile telephones. The move exemplifies how operators are rushing to be first out with the best services in a rapidly advancing and expanding market.

As supplier to Bharti, Hutchison, BSNL and Idea Cellular, the four major GSM operators in India, Ericsson is working quickly to meet the demand for EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) services. EDGE is a 3G technology that delivers broadband-like data speeds to mobile devices, typically three times faster than possible with an ordinary GSM/GPRS network. EDGE enables GSM operators to offer higher-speed mobile-data access, serve more mobile-data customers, and free up GSM network capacity to accommodate additional voice traffic.

 

Jan Campbell, head of Market Unit India and Sri Lanka, says the sudden rush to offer faster speed is a natural extension of the kind of growth India has experienced in the past five years. Thanks in part to lower tariffs and licensing fees, accompanied by lower prices in mobile telephones, the market has been growing at an annual rate of 23 percent. More than 11 million GSM subscribers were added in 2003, which is expected to double by the end of 2004.

 

Campbell describes the average user in India as one who uses mostly voice services in rural and urban areas. They use their mobile phones a lot - Campbell says the average user in India spends twice as much time on mobile calls than the average user in China. "Mobile communications costs are relatively low for the public today in India, so that's the way communication as such is penetrating the country.

 

"Then you have high-end users, corporate users, who want to combine mobile connectivity with high-speed data for e-mail, multi-media messaging (MMS) and more. It's not big volume usage but demand is clearly there."

 

Enter Ericsson and its high-speed solutions for both GSM and CDMA2000 1X. Campbell believes the operators urge each other on and spur growth in India. He says: "GSM accounts for over 70 percent of wireless market in India and the data service and applications will gain momentum with the introduction of EDGE.

 

"The two technologies stimulate a race in technology and data speeds," he says. "The important thing when you have the entire portfolio is that you can provide applications for both technologies and we are very proficient when it comes to applications for both GSM and CDMA2000 1X. We are the only supplier that can provide MMS platforms for both technologies, and we have done that in India."

 

The operators are not only after winning the loyalties of the one billion people in India, but getting the most from each one. "All operators see increased revenue from data usage. It's not only to get high volume of subscribers. You need a good mixture to keep up high revenue per user - especially in urban areas," Campbell says.

 

Ericsson has built 40 out of 76 networks in all 26 states but coverage is still only in the main towns and villages. Campbell says momentum is building. "Now we must live up to increasing demand for heavy rollout in rural areas, there are ongoing rollouts for voice applications. At the same time, we are coping with increasing demand for higher data speed in urban areas."