The telecom sector is likely to garner revenues to the tune of $35 billion by 2010 even though its profit margins have been declining, a study said. A joint study by industry body Assocham and international accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said India's telecom sector has grown rapidly in the last few years and has clocked revenues of over $22 billion in FY07.
The country is poised to nearly double its subscriber base to 500 million by 2010, it said. At present, India is the second largest wireless market in the world with the subscriber base of nearly 250 million.
The study stated that during the 11th Plan Period the sector would attract investment to the tune of $76.6 billion.
With the rollout of the 3G services the sector would get further boost as it would make high speed data transfers possible, it added.
To support the growing subscriber base the country needs 35,00,000 telecom towers by 2010, against 125,000 in 2007, telecom watchdog Trai said.
The study also pointed out that despite the sector moving into the high growth trajectory, it is still faced with certain challenges such as low teledensity in the rural areas, limited bandwidth and infrastructure and others.
© Copyright 2008 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
|