The Indian FTTH mkt won't be significant in 2012

BANGALORE, INDIA: Over the course of 2011, Indian state-owned telecom operator, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), has started to offer fiber broadband service in a number of major cities, including Bangalore, Pune, Jaipur, and Kerala. BSNL is the country’s major broadband operator with almost seven million customers using its DSL broadband service.

At present, fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband subscription fees are too high for Indian households. Fees range from $100 per month to above $1000 per month.

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Monthly subscription fees vary based on connection speed and the monthly-allowed data download limit. The pricing of its newly launched fiber broadband service is $526 per month for 20 Mbps, $950 for 50 Mbps, and $1700 for 100 Mbps with no download limit. The service with a 250 GB download limit with 24 Mbps is available at $140.

These significant costs will make it almost impossible for most households in India to adopt fiber broadband services.

India currently has only about 28,000 subscribers using fiber broadband services across the whole country. Unless the Indian government finds effective ways to make fiber broadband affordable to average households, the FTTH market will not be significant in India anytime soon.