Original telecommunications market research and telecommunications sector trend analysis for the national telecommunications industry.

Competitive intelligence, regional telecommunications company rankings and SWOT analyses on international and domestic telecommunications companies.

The Report provides industry professionals and researchers, operators, equipment suppliers and vendors, corporate and financial services analysts and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on the national telecommunications industry.

" The Asia Telecommunications Report is used for benchmarking industry views against BMI's independent forecasts; for market research and analysis of industry trends. It also provides competitive intelligence on leading companies. "
Chi-Wen Tsai, Managing Director, ROHDE & SCHWARZ Taiwan Ltd

Key Benefits of Report

-Benchmark BMI's Independent 5-Year Telecommunications Industry Forecast to test other views - a key input for successful budgeting and strategic business planning in the national telecommunications market.
-Target Business Opportunities & Risks in the Telecommunications Sector through our reviews of latest industry trends, regulatory changes, and major deals, projects and investments.
-Exploit Latest Competitive Telecommunications Intelligence & company SWOTS on your competitors and peers through company rankings by sales, market share, investments and leading products and services.

Executive Summary
Summary of BMI's key industry forecasts and trend analysis, covering ICT, fixed-line, mobile and internet markets, and headline news of key industry events from the latest quarter.

Market Overview
At-a-glance outlook of the structure, size and value of the industry, including an overview of key players and a snapshot of regional penetration rates for fixed-line, mobile and internet markets.

Business Environment Rankings
BMI provides a cross-border analysis of telecoms regulatory systems across regional markets, and their investor prospects, discussing the merits and downfalls of each country's business environment, and ranking them in order of competitiveness. The rankings take into account industry factors, such as Market Maturity, Growth Potential, Competitive Environment and Licensing Framework in addition to BMI's political and economic risk ratings.

BMI 5-Year Industry Forecast
Historic data series and 5-year forecasts to end-2012 for all key industry indicators (see list below), supported by explicit assumptions, plus analysis of key downside risks to the main forecast.

Fixed-Line Telephony - Telephone Lines ('000); Telephone Lines/100 Inhabitants;
Cellular Telephony - Phone Subscribers ('000); Mobile Phone Subscribers/ 100 Inhabitants; Mobile Phone Subscribers/100 Fixed Line Subscribers;
Internet Markets - Internet Users ('000); Internet Users/100 Inhabitants; Broadband Internet Subscribers ('000); Broadband Internet Subscribers/100 Inhabitants;
Multimedia Markets - PCs ('000); PCs/100 Inhabitants; TV households ('000s); Pay-TV subscribers ('000s); Pay-TV subscribers/100 inhabitants; Cable TV subscribers ('000s); Direct-to-Home Subscribers ('000s)
BMI 5-Year Macroeconomic Forecast
BMI forecasts for all headline macroeconomic indicators, including real GDP growth, inflation, fiscal balance, trade balance, current account and external debt.

Competitive Landscape & Rankings
Commentary on key operators highlighting ownership structures, latest available revenue figures, market share analysis and ARPU counts.

Company Profiles & SWOTS
Company profiles, including SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analyses, fully researched senior executives and contact details, business activity, leading products and services, and a record of all recent foreign direct investments and projects.

The Sector At A Glance

Key Insights On The Telecomunications sector of India

India's telecommunications market is fascinating to analyse. Quite simply, it has replaced China as the country to admire in terms of market growth. It is perhaps not as innovative as the Chinese telecoms market, but was home to 17mn net additions in Q305 alone, beating China's 16.8mn for the first time. With China's market beginning to slow down in terms of growth, India's mobile market is still accelerating. One only has to look at the capital expenditure plans of Bharti, Reliance, BSNL and Hutchison to recognise that this level of growth is here to stay.

Changes to the way in which the TRAI counts its fixed-line and wireless customers have obliged us to amend our five-year projections. We forecast an 18% reduction in the number of fixed-line users during 2006, with the number of lines in service remaining just above 40mn. There is little chance of any revival, with the government turning its attention towards ensuring the continued rapid growth of its wireless market. Indeed, it has re-directed its Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) away from the fixed-line sector and pointed these funds in the direction of India's fast-growing wireless industry and embryonic broadband market. There is some activity in India's DLD sector with investments from AT&T, Tata, Hutchison, Idea Cellular and Spice, but this will change matters little.

The potential for further growth in India's wireless industry is huge. We project y-o-y growth of 95% by the end of 2006, as India's mobile subscriber base grows at about 5.5-6mn customers per month. This means that by the end of the year, there should be about 150mn mobile users in India. From here, we estimate that there will be over 250mn subscribers by the end of 2007 and that India will welcome its 400 millionth customer towards the end of 2009. Rural India will provide much of this growth. It is this that will hinder the growth of 3G mobile telephony in the short-term with data usage and non-voice revenues remaining low throughout India, but especially in the countryside where the ultra low-cost handset remains popular.

India is eighth in BMI's Telecommunications Business Environment Rankings. It scores very highly for its growth potential and its licensing/regulatory regime. We commend the regulator for its support for the launch of 3G telephony in 2007, and the government for its plan to draw up a shortlist of four frequency bands for the allocation of spectrum for WiMAX. The government also continues to encourage inward investment. However, there is some concern that the Indian government's tolerance of a foreign telecoms provider owning a 74% stake in one of the country's operators could impinge on Indian security. It would be a major reversal in the perception of India as an investment-friendly market if the government were to reduce its ownership cap to 49%. The Indian government has given a three-month extension to the 74% cap, but analysts and potential investors are watching very closely as to what the state decides on its longterm FDI policy.