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Subscriber base of broadband to

grow 44%: Study
Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telco, has more than two million
broadband (DSL) customers. It has seen a 5.5% year-on-year
growth in its broadband customers as of September.

By Devina Sengupta, ET Bureau | Jan 01, 2018, 08.54 AM IST

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Agencies

Although consumers are inundated with offers of data on

their mobile phones at lower tariffs, demand for data at
higher speed makes the wireline segment equally relevant
in the country.

MUMBAI: Surging demand for data is likely to fuel

about 44% growth in the number of wireline
broadband subscribers in India in the next four
years, according to a market research firm, and
trigger intense competition among telecom
operators, cable TV providers and standalone
broadband service providers for a share of the
rapidly growing pie.

Although consumers are inundated with offers of

data on their mobile phones at lower tariffs,
demand for data at higher speed in places such as
homes, small enterprises, education institutes and
offices makes the wireline segment equally relevant
in the country.

Counterpoint Technology
READ Market
MORE Research has said
that it expects the country’s wireline broadband
subscriber base to swell to 26.2 million by 2021
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from 18.2 million this year, at an annual growth of
about 7.6%, with most of the additions likely to be
backended as infrastructure expands.
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Wireline broadband includes broadband internet

connectivity over fixed cable lines (DSL/ADSL) or
fibre optics (fibre to the home or FTTH) networks.

“Heavy data usage of hundreds of GB a month at

affordable prices is leading to the growth in wireline
subscribers at 4-5% a year,” said Rohan Dhamija,
head of India and Middle East for Analysys Mason.

For instance, some subscribers consume about 200

GB a month to watch long videos such as films
instead of short videos that are viewed on mobile
READ MORE: Sanjay Kapoor | Reliance Jio |
phones and for which 10-15 GB that telcos offer is
internet penetration | Internet | high speed internet |
sufficient. “Competition comes from big telcos
broadband users | broadband userbase
entering the segment, other ISPs (internet service
providers)
Facebookand localdown
apps cable operators.
for someWith only 6-7%
users
wired
acrossbroadband penetration in India, there is
the globe
enough opportunity for everyone to grow in this
market,” said Bala Malladi, CEO, Atria Convergence
Technologies (ACT).

The company, a broadband service provider, saw its

subscriber base grow from 0.9 million to 1.27
million in about 18 months.

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“Lower data prices COMMENT
mobile phones) have not had
a significant impact on our target customer
segments,” Malladi said.
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Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telco, has more than two
million broadband (DSL) customers. It has seen a
5.5% year-on-year
DoTgrowth in notice
to issue its broadband
to five telcos to
customers as ofrecover Rs 2,578
September, but crore
has seen pressure
on revenue as it lowered rates ahead of Reliance
Jio Infocomm’s expected formal entry into the
More from our Partners
segment.

Last month, the telco extended its data rollover

facility to its home broadband customers, under
which its customers will be able to accumulate up to
1,000 GB data.

It is expanding
Here itsincome
are the latest broadband presenceLive,
CodeMeet: rapidly,
Real-time,
offering
tax higher
slabs and ratesspeeds. The Automated
company recently
Coding sold a
20% stake in its DTH arm to assessment platform on
Warburg Pincus for
the Go!
abo-ut Rs 2,300 crore, as it looks for a more
More Fromplay
integrated the ET
in the home segment.

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Jio is currently testing its fibrebased broadband

services
A which
huge payout area expected
settles 10-yr- to be rolled
Common threadout early
in Modi’s
old family feud election campaign
next year. According to reports, the 4G entrant will
bundle itsStories
Promoted television service with FTTH broadband to
tap into more than 100 million TV households
across cities, including those in the tier II and tier III
categories.

Vodafone India, the second biggest telco in the

country, is also looking at the broadband segment
to strengthen its home broadband and enterprise
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The operator has posted a double-digit growth in
the enterprise business annually for the past three
years and will bank on itsNEXT
LOADING acquisition
STORY of FTTH
company YOU Broadband to enter homes and
reach out to small and medium enterprises, and
startups.

India is way behind many other countries in this

Business News › Tech › Internet › Subscriber base of broadba
respect, according to analysts.
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“There is a lack of fiberised backhaul; the
government needs to look at it like (in the)
Text
infrastructure Size: We A
sector. A even touched the
have not A
tip of the iceberg and there needs to be more
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participation from OTT (over the top) players and
telcos,” said Sanjay Kapoor
Kapoor, a former chief
Search for News, Stock & NAV's
executive of Bharti Airtel’s India operations.
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The laying down of cables or fibre is a slow process
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“India is still a quite small market in terms of size
E-paper
when you look from networking equipment
perspective, though there
VIEW is high
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»
opportunity for the likes of operators, public sector,
education sector or players such as Google,
Facebook ,” said Neil Shah, research director, device
and ecosystems at Counterpoint Technology Market
Research.
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