Internet of Things (IoT) to be the next big thing for operators—TMT India Predictions 2017

• Market value of IoT expected to touch USD 9 billion by 2020
• Mobile and digital payments to overtake physical card payments
• Technology industry may witness an earlier arrival of 5G in India
• Ad spending to continue to rise, despite temporary set-back due to demonetization

New Delhi, Monday, 13 February 2017: As per Deloitte's TMT India Predictions 2017, Internet of Things (IoT) is going to be the next big thing for operators as India will rapidly grow into a hub for IoT Solutions. The market value of IoT is expected to reach USD 9 billion by 2020. IoT units in India are also expected to see a rapid growth of 31 times to reach 1.9 billion by 2020.

The 7th edition of Deloitte India’s predictions for the Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) sector in India highlights that even with over 750 million cards in circulation and significant growth, mobile-based and digital payments will eclipse physical card payments. Innovative payment channels adopted by traditional and new age companies coupled with Government backed systems such as Aadhaar Enabled Payments Systems (AEPS) and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to have a positive impact on mobile and digital payments.

“With advances in reliability, accuracy and technology of advance tech measures such as biometric authentication, digitisation will gain popularity in various business applications”, said a Deloitte India spokesperson. He further added, “The emergence of new tech trends will help transform digital economy in 2017 and will help operators in identifying new revenue generating opportunities, enhance customer experience, and improve operational efficiencies.”

Deloitte India predicts that technology industry in India may witness an earlier arrival of 5G in India. Deloitte believes that in order to understand the economics and performance, some operators may take intermediate steps and evolve from LTE to LTE-A and LTE-A Pro, in preparation for 5G.

India is a relatively small market for tablet computers with less than 4 million units sold in 2016. Indian market is dominated by low-cost devices, a majority of which are sold under the $150 price tag and the low-cost device manufacturers’ address close to 80% of the overall market. Majority of smartphones launched in India have more than 5 inches of screen size, which is impacting the overall volume of tablets. The increasing adoption of tablets in the business segment is not sufficient to offset the declining usage in the consumer segment thereby putting pressure on overall volumes. But, there is a clear indication that Smartphones and ‘phablets’ are impacting the demand for tablets and will continue to do so in the future as well.

Additional findings from India edition of Deloitte TMT predictions 2017 include:

• The future is biometric: The TMT Predictions underlines the fact that the usage of biometric authentication in India will rise dramatically in 2017 with 1 million+ biometric-enabled access points to be added. Aadhaar will be the catalyst for biometric authentication-based applications. While fingerprint authentication is likely to dominate the biometric market, modalities such as IRIS and ‘face recognition’ will gain popularity in specific applications.
• Impact of demonetisation on ad spends: Deloitte India predicts that television advertising is likely to have double digit growth in 2017. This could be due to macro-economic factors, introduction of GST and other reforms. Demonetization has hit the media industry hard. The companies had to limit their advertisement spends in the third quarter which is their peak advertising season. The effects of demonetization may get carried forward to the next quarter as well. Deloitte believes that advertising expenditure will continue to grow, leaving behind the temporary set-back that it encountered on account of demonetization.
• OTT platforms on the rise: Deloitte predicts that over-the-top (OTT) platforms would further gain popularity. The changing multi-screen consumption pattern and demand for more choice of content would compel M&E companies to choose OTT platforms that deliver live, linear and on-demand TV and film content supported by subscription video on demand, advertising, rental and electronic sell-through (EST) business models.
• CSP 2.0 – the new business model: Operators will focus on exploiting their existing assets and strengths in new ways by moving from one-sided to two-sided business models – CSP 2.0. The new CSP 2.0 approach will help operators in identifying new revenue generating opportunities, enhance customer experience and improve operational efficiencies.  

Deloitte India’s annual TMT Predictions provides an outlook on key trends over the medium term looking out into the next decade in the TMT industry sectors. Full details about the India edition of TMT India Predictions 2017 are available here. 

Notes to the editor for reference purposes only:

This press release has been issued by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP.

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to clients. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a more detailed description of DTTL and its member firms.

Deloitte India herein refers to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Private Limited (U74140MH199 5PTC093339) a private company limited by shares was converted into Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP, a limited liability partnership (LLP Identification No. AAE-8458) with effect from October 1, 2015.

Media Contact:

Sagarika Mamik Gupta
Deloitte Shared Services India LLP
Mobile: +91 9711284005
Email: sagarikagupta@deloitte.com

Dhirendra Negi
Integral
Mobile: +91 9818628096
Email: dhirendra@integral-india.in