Indoor Coverage A Key 3G Gap

Telecom equipment major Ericsson, based on a study, has pointed out the major hurdles in the growth of mobile broadband in the country. In keeping with the increase in data usage across the country, the Swedish firm says that there has been a 63 percent increase in app usage and 20 percent increase in terms of time spent by users on smartphones. On an average, Indian consumers spend over three hours a day on their smartphones and 25 percent of the consumers check their phones over 100 times a day. Around one-third of the time spend on smartphones is for using apps and this trend is expected to continue, Ericsson says. However, what would be of interest to the telcos is that the performance of the network is shaping smartphone behavior like never before. "Habit is determined by the network performance. About 44 percent of the time a smartphone user does not have broadband coverage. Secondly indoor coverage is extremely important for increasing the usage of mobile broadband," said Ajay Gupta, VP-Strategy and Marketing, Ericsson India during the press conference yesterday. The 3G telcos would need to invest in offering improved indoor coverage, speed and availability if they want to increase mobile data usage on their networks. This is of significant importance because 76 percent of consumers are willing to pay more for a guaranteed better mobile data experience. Indoor coverage is an issue not just with 3G but also with 4G networks. Airtel is adopting pico cells in its 4G network to enhance indoor coverage. Some other telcos are also experimenting with small cells to combat this problem. The service providers are also in the process of upgrading and expanding their networks. The Indian networks are primarily TDM-based and are now making efforts towards IP-fication of their networks to cater to the rising mobile broadband needs of their customers. Ericsson ConsumerLab Study was carried out in the April-June 2014 period among 4,000 smartphone users across 18 urban cities in the country. It is based on a combination of a consumer perception survey with on-device measurements.