WiMAX subscribers in India to reach 1.3 crore by 2012 

According to a report by research firms Maravedis and Tonse Telecom, the
Indian telecom market is growing in leaps and bounds, and subscriber growth is
outpacing the mobile operators despite network expansions. The Ministry of
Telecom aims at enhancing telephone penetration, and is said to be confident of
reaching its target of 25 crore (250 million) phones by 2007. Even having
reached that target, the national teledensity wouldn't be more than 25 per
cent.

The report on wireless market trends in the country also says WiMAX
subscribers would reach to 1.3 crore (13 million) in India by 2012. "More
than 70 per cent of Indian households do not have access to fixed wired
telephone services," says Adlane Fellah, senior analyst, Maravedis.
"Instead, customers have flocked to cellular phone carriers, which have
built a tremendous infrastructure to provide service to more than 10 crore (100
million) customers."

The same trend is also predicted for broadband wireless Internet access
services like WiMAX, which will provide high-speed data services over a wireless
network.

"There is huge potential for broadband wireless Internet and VoIP
services in India because there are still more than 600,000 villages with no
basic communications services," mentioned Sridhar Pai, CEO of Tonse
Telecom. "From a mere 15 lakh (1.5 million) connections today, the Indian
broadband market will grow in the next six years to become potentially one of
the top broadband wireless markets on the planet," added Sridhar.

Though Broadband services came into being in India in 2005, ADSL services
currently cover 300 towns with around 1.5 million connections, but broadband
wireless subscriber figures are still negligible.