India to have highest new mobile subscriber uptake

India looks to trump China to become the country with the highest number of new mobile subscribers each year from 2010 to 2015 as its citizens embrace 3G and mobile services, according to Pyramid Research.

The research firm's latest study, released Thursday, showed that mobile operators in India will add "an astounding 125 million net additions on average per year" from 2010 to 2015--a number that is expected to be higher than any other country in the world. This rate of increase will bring the total number of mobile subscribers to 1.2 billion in 2015, it stated.

Additionally, the country's mobile penetration rate will hit 100 percent by 2015, a 36 percent hike over its 2010 figure, the report revealed.

The exponential mobile subscription rates are driven primarily by the increasing adoption of 3G and mobile services such as music, video and broadband access, the study revealed. Boosted by this uptake, mobile data services revenue is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 27.3 percent during the same period, he added.

Even the intensive competition among the country's 15 mobile carriers has not dampened growth in mobile voice revenue. Overall revenue is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1 percent from 2010 to 2015, said Luis Portela, analyst at large at Pyramid Research, in the report.

Regionally, telecom service revenue in India ranks third after Japan and China at US$45.5 billion in 2010, said the analyst, adding that this sector is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.4 percent to reach US$71.3 billion in revenues by 2015.

"Booming economic performance, a growing population, an expanding middle class, and a relatively low service penetration give India tremendous growth prospects,"" he said.