India Emerges as Market of Choice for Global Wireless Giants

6:00 am on February 20, 2007 | Category: Business, Cell Phones, Mobile Devices, Telecom Services, Wireless

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It was India, not China, that dominated the spotlight at the 3GSM World Congress last week, as carriers and handset makers expressed their enthusiasm for the emerging south Asian market.

India is already the world’s fourth largest cell phone market – not to mention the fastest growing – and is set to overtake Russia for the number three spot later this year. The country currently has over 150 million wireless subscribers, and this number could reach half a billion by the end of 2010.

3GSM’s biggest headline, of course, would have to be Vodafone’s decision to buy a controlling stake in Indian wireless carrier, Hutchison Essar, showing us that the world’s largest mobile phone company is willing to bet $11 billion on this rapidly emerging market. But the potential investment in India’s wireless industry doesn’t end there.

France Telecom’s mobile phone subsidiary, Orange, has said that it too is keeping a keen eye on India, with CEO, Sanjiv Ahuja commenting that “if a right opportunity emerges at the right kind of valuation, we would look at it.”

Now more than ever, it seems that India is beginning to eclipse its heavily regulated neighbor to the north as the emerging wireless market of choice for the big-name mobile phone groups.

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    Published by TeleClick Enterprises
    Edited by Jeremy Maddock