Indian telecom must 'leapfrog' into future technologies: Satyam

India must "leap frog" into future technologies and services in the telecom sector as it is distinctly positioned to grow at a scorching pace along with China, according to T R Anand, director and senior vice-president, Satyam Computer Services Ltd.

Addressing delegates of the Telemanagement World Regional Summit, Anand said that the Indian telecom industry has shown immense potential to spearhead growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

Anand quoted Gartner reports that Asia-Pacific is all set to become the second largest telecom services market after the US, with a market size of $400 billion by 2008.

"The telecom market in Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.2 per cent to touch $400 billion. Major trends indicate that India and China are well positioned to spearhead the growth, especially looking at the manner in which the sector has grown," Anand said.

Giving a perspective of the world telecom market vis-a-vis Asia, Anand said that global telecom revenues in 2003 was $1.3 trillion. This is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.2 per cent touch $1.6 trillion by 2007-08. Of this, nearly $1.5 trillion is expected to come purely from services.

"By 2008, Asia-Pacific will leave behind Europe to be second biggest telecom market. Both fixed line and mobile users will almost be equal in Asia-Pacific region by 2008," Anand said.

Anand felt that since India has already witnessed the telecom boom, an effort should be made towards using technology as the key differentiator to increase the quality and the user base.

"While supporting existing legacy systems and introducing next generation services are shaping up, technology can help in leapfrogging the hurdles of legacy systems. Another key trend emerging is that sharing of infrastructure is proving to be beneficial to telecom service providers," Anand explained.

On the influence of technology in the telecom sector, Anand stressed on Wi-Fi, Wi-Max (Worldwide Interoperability of Microwave Access) and smart phones. "Nearly 30 million smart phones were sold last year and this is expected to go up by 80 per cent this year," Anand said.

With India being the fourth biggest player currently in the Asia-Pacific region after China, Japan and South Korea, Anand said that increased focus on telecom penetration will result in better prospects for the industry.

"While spectrum-related issues and reduction of tariffs are some of the issues that need to be addressed, increasing customer penetration is the key. Carriers are looking at infrastructure and pricing issues. But soon, this will not be the only differentiator as a result of heavy competition," he added.