Broadband
Futures broadband, personalized services: experts
NEW DELHI: Top experts in telecom have forecast that soon converged networks would deliver personalized services like video-on-demand, music-of-choice and financial services to millions of users at affordable prices.
New games would be invented and played by multi-users simultaneously, and home entertainment and entertainment would be recast in so far unthinkable ways, the experts further sketched a picture for the future, while speaking at a session on ‘Access Technologies’ at the 12th Convergence India 2004 that opened in Pragati Maidan here today and also during the inaugural function.
Qualcomm Inc. group president Dr Paul Jacobs said added that technology has helped the common man to access cricket and data networks.
Recollecting a recent trip from Delhi to Agra, he said that while traveling from Delhi to Agra, he stayed ‘connected’ on his laptop all the way.
“Access makes a huge difference in the lives of people. This access to information and communications is an incredible power. So many changes are converging on devices around us. One needs to be an expert in all of these areas to make these changes. I am proud that Qualcomm has been able to
promote this convergence.”
He noted that India was fast moving ahead toward a leadership position in 3G. Pointing out that 3G networks have also converged, Dr Jacobs said, “The punch line today is to get the services rolled out and serve the market. India is poised for growth and is deploying 3G technologies.”
Discussing a vision for the future of telecom Dr Jacobs, Dr Yong-Kyung Lee, president and CEO of Korea Telecom and Dr Neil Ransom, chief technology officer of Alcatel, told the audience that India too would be partnering this global change. Their statement comes in the context of the big thrust in broadband and high-speed Internet that the departments of information technology and communications are planning to introduce in the country.
Telecom and broadcast regulator Telecom regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is also in the final stages of making its recommendations for broadband.
Dr Jacobs pointed out that 100 million people were already using 3G technology. Using Qualcomms Brew technology, globally uniform, but highly personalized killer applications were beginning to be built covering mobile TV, educational programs, traffic views and location information, among
other things.
“Everybody will be able to afford these services,” he assured. The emerging mobile Internet would be sensitive to locality and time, and always-on and always-with-you mode.
Dr Lee said that over 73 per cent of the households in Korea were connected online and 11 million people were using broadband, making Korea the largest broadband user in the world. Whats more cable TV was getting integrated with high-speed Internet to provide maximum coverage and services.
DSL and VDSL are being used for broadband traffic on copper lines, he said, explaining how the next-generation network would provide e-learning, e-health services, etc., on mobile terminals. He also described how new mass games were evolving using broadband mobile and being played in large
stadia.
“India has now taken up the word convergence and is on the road to IT progress. We are here at the show, looking at opportunities to connect with Indian operators,” he said.
According to Dr Neil Ransom, CTO, Alcatel, with the increasing capability of FTTH (fiber-to-the-home), broadband would be covering many services that would be both personalized and affordable.
He said Alcatels technology would provide converged video services.
Earlier, during the inaugural function, while pointing out the relevance of a show like Convergence India, Trai chairman Pradip Baijal said, “I admitted yesterday (at a pre-event function) that I used to have an inferiority complex vis-a-vis China in terms of tele-density and subscriber growth. We are excited about working on broadband. We will soon catch up with other countries as technologies are becoming cheaper and easy to access.”
BSNL CMD V P Sinha touched on the burgeoning telecom subscriber segment, adding that the total subscriber base, currently at 70 million in India, will soon cross the 100-million mark.
Exhibitions India Pvt. Ltd. MD Prem Behl and organizer of the event said, “Over the years, the event has become an annual event where industries and policy makers worldwide gather to frame policies and enhance business opportunities. We look upon BSNL as an institute of change, and as the largest telecom player in India as well as a global player.”
Broadband
Airtel and Jio surge ahead as Vodafone Idea and BSNL lose subscribers in December
India’s mobile base rises in December, but gains skewed towards the top two operators
NEW DELHI: India’s telecom market ended 2025 with a familiar split: the leaders sprinting ahead, the laggards slipping further. Fresh data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) show Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio adding millions of wireless users in December, while Vodafone Idea and state-run BSNL continued to bleed subscribers.
India’s overall telephone subscriber base, wireless and wireline, climbed to 1.306 billion in December 2025, a monthly rise of 0.66 per cent. Growth was driven largely by wireless, which accounted for the bulk of new additions.
Bharti Airtel added 5.42 million wireless subscribers during the month, the biggest net gain among operators. Reliance Jio followed with roughly 2.96 million additions. Their gains were spread across multiple licensed service areas, underscoring broad-based momentum.
The story was starkly different for their rivals. Vodafone Idea recorded a net loss of about 9.4 lakh wireless subscribers, extending a run of monthly erosion. BSNL also saw its base shrink by around 2.06 lakh users. Despite marginal gains in a few circles, the PSU’s overall wireless base continued to contract.
Taken together, net wireless (mobile) additions across operators stood at 7.23 million in December.
Wireless subscribers, including mobile and fixed wireless access (FWA), rose to 1.258 billion, a net monthly increase of 8.21 million. Wireless tele-density improved to 88.41 per cent, though the urban–rural divide remained wide: urban tele-density at 140.66 per cent versus 59.07 per cent in rural areas.
The wireline segment posted modest growth. Subscribers increased from 47.05 million in November to 47.37 million in December, a 0.68 per cent monthly rise. Urban areas continued to dominate, while rural wireline tele-density stayed low.
Broadband crossed a symbolic milestone, with total subscribers topping one billion to reach 1,007.35 million by December-end. Mobile wireless broadband remained the primary access mode. In fixed wireless access, 5G FWA subscribers grew 5.59 per cent month on month, signalling gradual uptake of next-generation services.
Yet churn remains high. TRAI noted that about 16.12 million subscribers submitted mobile number portability requests in December alone.
The scoreboard is clear: scale is breeding more scale at the top, while smaller players struggle to hold ground. In India’s brutally competitive telecom arena, December’s numbers show a market that is still growing, but not evenly—and momentum, for now, sits firmly with the frontrunners.
