"As the demand for data continues to surge, 4G is the next step of the roll-call of network innovation that will meet customer needs." Murat Bilgic, Director of Wireless Technology-CTO Office, EXFO

India has harnessed boundless possibilities of the Internet and has positioned itself firmly on the global map. Yet, less than 14 million users in the country have broadband connectivity. India's broadband penetration rate is around one-eighth of that of China. Given the paucity of fixed broadband in India, and the emergence of portable broadband devices that are much simpler to use than personal computers, it would seem logical to imagine that mobile broadband services would help fill in the broadband gap in India in the same way that mobile voice services have done for voice.

With an estimated 920 million subscribers, the Indian telecom market is the second largest in the world. Mobile penetration to the remotest corner is nothing short of a social revolution. The country has made substantial progress in mobile telephony uptake, especially in mobile usage. Competition has driven down per-minute voice prices to the lowest in the world. With the rapid growth of 3G uptake and the launch of 4G, the industry stands on the precipice of a change in communications technology that is unlike anything one has seen before. Though India has 76 percent teledensity, compared to its BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) peers, it is still substantially behind many other countries. But the fundamentals are in place to take mobile revolution beyond voice.

The next decade will see unprecedented growth in mobile telephony as the number of subscribers may rise to 5 billion. In recent years, due to consumption of data service, traffic levels have grown manifolds, and this trend is expected to continue well in the future. The Internet driven by mobile broadband will be the predominant platform to connect a billion people in India and provide access to a wide variety of content and applications. Telecom, media, and the Internet with IT landscape will converge, putting a unique and first-of-its-kind ecosystem in place. The result will be of an unparallel opportunity and superior competition for the players in one hand and improved user experience for the consumers on the other. Service providers offer simple and user-friendly solutions that bring connectivity to people and enable the content reach the podium.

All flavors of telecom technology - be it 2G, 3G, or TD-LTE (4G) - are essential building blocks of India's mobile broadband. Already, mobile subscribers numberings in double-digit millions are provisioned for 3G. As per analysts' prediction, India will have the highest number of 3G users by 2014, exceeding the already established markets like China, Japan, and the United States. With the advent of 4G, India is no longer a late technology adopter, but a pioneer in mass commercial deployment of the latest in telecom technologies. As the demand for data continues to surge, 4G is a further part of the roll-call of network innovations that will meet customer needs. 4G will make users experience the same possibilities that were shown by 3G.

The impact of this revolution will be more prominent in India than the rest of the world. Consumers in urban and rural areas are discovering powerful new ways to change their daily lives for the better. The telecom sector is the fundamental to the larger growth story of India. Mobile broadband will be instrumental in ensuring a billion people's access to basic needs like quality education and healthcare and shaping up their position in the human development index. This new era of mobile broadband will be led by greater innovation, and collaboration amongst all stakeholders is imperative to make it a success.