Even as the mobile user base shrinks due to rising prices, wireline subscribers grew for the first time in 10 years in FY22. Fixed broadband saw a nearly 23% year-over-year to reach 24.8 million subscribers by the end of fiscal 2022. This comes even as the wireline market saw no growth during the peak Covid years. Experts suggest that this indicates that the fixed broadband market is stabilizing and maturing, which is why they predict the market will witness further growth in the future.
BSNL continues to have the largest subscriber share with 7.5 million, followed by Jio, which has 6.2 subscribers nationwide. Bharti Airtel has 5.9 million wireline subscribers. According to Spark Capital’s report, telcos continue to have an edge over regional ISPs, holding the largest market share.
internet for household
Experts suggest that the reason the fixed broadband market is growing for the first time in 10 years is that the usefulness of connectivity goes far beyond things like entertainment or work. “You are starting to see smart home components being integrated into the household. This includes smart locks, security cameras. Price hikes taken by telecom operators are also another reason why landlines could proliferate further Households could downgrade most of their members to more affordable cellular plans and supplement their data demand with fixed broadband,” said Faisal Kawooza, founder of TechArc.
Another major hurdle faced by fixed broadband players is the informal ban on importing modems from China. The Telecommunications Engineering Center did not allow Chinese-made modems in the mandatory tests that communications equipment must pass. An expert said Activity area on condition of anonymity that “the fixed broadband industry could have grown much faster, especially during the work-from-home era during the pandemic. However, the proliferation of the market has been delayed due to China’s ban.
Kawoosa, however, noted that the new growth trend, which was seen in FY22, is here to stay as consumers discover a wider range of ways to use internet connectivity at home. home.
Published on
June 26, 2022
