According to the Mobile Broadband India Traffic Index (MBiT) report by Nokia, India will see a huge surge in the number of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) connections in the coming years. The Finnish telecom gear maker’s report suggests that the FTTH connections in India would reach 10 million by 2025. It is worth noting that in 2014, there were only 0.7 million active FTTH connections in the country, but that number reached 4 million by the end of 2020. It is further expected to increase to 10 million by 2025 — more details on the story ahead.
India’s Fixed Broadband Subscriber Base Up by 12% YoY
India saw a rise in the broadband subscriber base by 12% YoY in 2020, and the total number of subscribers reached 22 million. The global pandemic and lockdowns helped the cause of fiber broadband which came with different benefits such as bundled over-the-top (OTT) subscriptions and more. The steady growth in the number of broadband subscribers in the country is expected to increase the broadband industry’s revenues by a CAGR of 8.6% during the 2020-25 period. Amit Marwah, Nokia’s Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) said that telcos would be bullish for the country’s fixed broadband segment. The report highlights that fiber will emerge as the leading broadband technology by 2025, holding 53% of the market while DSL and Cable connections together would have 35% of the market. Both Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are pushing their fiber broadband game by spreading the areas of service rapidly and introducing lower-entry level plans. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) also offers similar fiber broadband plans to that of Airtel and Jio to compete with the telcos in the concerned segment. One thing which has helped the telcos a lot in expanding their fiber broadband offerings is their partnership with multiple OTT platforms. Broadband players such as Jio, Airtel, BSNL, and ACT offer many OTT benefits with their broadband plans.
