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Brief
Indian Data Card and USB Modem sales cross the million mark in the 12 months ending June 2009
Shipments of data cards and USB modems crossed the one million mark (1,002,169
units) in the 12 months ending June 2009, according to the findings of IDC’s
‘India Quarterly Data Card and USB Modem Market Review, Q2 CY2009’.
IDC India attributes this to the rapid growth in travel and the need to stay
in touch with customers, vendors and business partners 24/7. The communication
needs of enterprises have grown to include access to e-mail and corporate applications,
as well as personal communication, online transactions and entertainment, the
study added.
The sharp increase in the demand for data cards/USB modems in the last four
quarters has gone up from 1.76 lakh in Jul-September 2008 quarter to 4.05 lakh
in April-Jun 2009. While in the quarter ending July-September 2008 one data
card/USB modem was sold for every four notebook computers, this number improved
to 3.2 data cards/USB modems sold for every four notebook computers in the April-June
2009.
One-third of the million data card/USB modems were sold in the first six months—July
2008-December 2008—and two-thirds were sold in the second half (Jan-June
2009). Currently the Wireless Internet market is dominated by CDMA operators
in the country. CDMA data cards/USB modem shipments accounted for nearly 69%
of the total market in Q2 CY2009.
The average sales value (ASV) or price of a data card/USB modem is around Rs.
3,000; going forward, with increasing demand, prices are likely to come down.
This will help improve the overall penetration of wireless Internet/broadband.
Currently data cards/USB modems are available mostly in bundled offerings from
operators. However, with increasing demand, IDC India expects more open market
data cards becoming available, thereby providing an opportunity to customers
to choose their favorite service provider along with their preferred device.
Incumbent operators (BSNL and MTNL) are pushing 3G data cards/USB
modems to increase subscribers on their recently launched 3G service networks.
Private telecom operators are yet to launch 3G services in the country.
According to Naveen Mishra, Senior Analyst, Communications Research, IDC India,
“Going forward, we expect convergence to affect USB modems, whereby these
devices will not only be used for Internet connectivity but also increasingly
for data storage, music (MP3 player) and FM (Radio).”
“USB modems may also see usage as a mobile phone in future avatars as companies
experiment with new applications,” he added.
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