India is the place to be for wireless operators

I read a story in CNNMoney about AT&T applying for wireless licenses covering all of India in association with its local partner Mahindra Telecom. Now this is an interesting move considering the recent developments - Vodafone has come in a big way with by winning its bid for Hutch and making announcements it is going to splurge $2billion to carve up the market. The largest player in the market Airtel at present is doing just well with 43 million subscribers. With less than 20% of 1.12 billion people using mobile phones and usage steadily catching up big players are taking a fancy to the Indian market. This seems to be the best growth scenario among all emerging economies.



The CNN story goes on to emphasize that after getting the license and spectrum AT&T would have to contend with the stiff competition to make a dent. Though early it has to be seen how AT&T plans to rapidly expand its network infrastructure. On its business model, I think AT&T would have attractive corporate plans and a killer smartphone (*) for the consumers. Let us see...