Mr. Akhil Gupta, Chairman of Bharti Infratel was positive on data, claiming it will be a second telecom revolution, with towers a proxy for this growth.
Data consumption is growing 100% yoy but significant growth potential remains ? 40k of 140k total BTS (for Bharti) are for 3G & only 20% of its subs are currently using data.
2G coverage is complete but 3G has only just started (focus is on top 4-5 cities in each circle) and LTE has yet to be rolled out. US$30bn has been invested by telcos since 2010 on spectrum; will be primarily used for data. Further, this spectrum on average is on a wider band vs voice.
