Video Will Drive LTE Adoption in India, Says Qualcomm's Dinesh Prasad

In the last year, the number of handsets that support 4G connectivity in India has been steadily rising, and it's not just been limited to top-end handsets, but also more affordable phones such as the Xiaomi Mi4i, the Yu Yuphoria, and the Motorola Moto E (Gen 2).

One thing that is common to all these phones is that they're based on Qualcomm's chipsets. According to a recent report, 2.2 million 4G/ LTE devices were shipped to India between January and March 2015, and 97.1 percent of these were smartphones and Qualcomm's SoC was used in 80 percent of them.

"With the kind of expected paradigm shift in quality as well as types of services after RJio goes 'live', device vendors are busy showcasing their competencies in the 4G/ LTE space, not only to have an early mover advantage but also to position themselves as reliable vendors in the space," says Faisal Kawoosa, Lead Analyst Cyber Media Telecoms Practice.

Now that 4G is rolling out in India - Airtel has already started 4G trials in Mumbai and other parts of India - these numbers are likely to go up, if 4G data is priced attractively.

We caught up with Dinesh Prasad, Head-Services, Qualcomm India and South Asia, to talk about how he sees the market shaping up in the near future, and what usage will drive the consumption of 4G data.

"The most obvious use case is definitely video. Video latency has long been a problem, and with 4G that won't be the case," says Prasad. "A fatter pipe will also lead to better content - from full-HD videos to 4K. And then it becomes about more than the network, the handsets also have to support playback, there's a whole ecosystem so we've been working across the board with the networks and the OEMs."

While Prasad sees video consumption as an important driver for growth, the greater availability of lower cost handsets is also a promising sign, he says.

"The OEMs have - through methods like online sales - brought the prices down significantly," he says. "Today, you can get a 4G phone for Rs. 6,999; it took a lot longer for 3G to reach the same point."

One of the reasons for this is that a lot of the phones launching in India today are also being launched in the China market, where 4G adoption is more advanced. Prasad claimed that the spectrum bands used in the two countries are very similar, and because of this, phone companies can quickly expand into India from China. This also means that many of these phones support 4G even though the network isn't really present here yet.

The other reason Prasad believes we'll see swift 4G adoption in India is that since many phones that are already on the market support 4G, the switch for customers will be simpler, and won't require them to buy new phones. "I often tell people, that 3G to 4G is going to be like GPRS to EDGE," he says, "[and] many people won't even notice the change."

Of course, that relies on whether 4G data rates will be attractive or not. "We saw a delay in the switch from 2G to 3G, and cost was a factor there," says Prasad. "But if customers don't feel the pinch, they won't complain."

Along the way, increased consumption of data could lead to greater revenues for the networks as well, particularly when you keep in mind some of the ways that Prasad says LTE could be used. "Some of the new technologies include VoLTE [voice over LTE] and LTE-Broadcast," says Prasad. "We've also been making SDK's such as AllPlay, and for augmented reality, which developers can use, to expand the ecosystem."

(Also see: With Smartphones Plateauing, Eyes on Mobile Networks to Provide Next Wave of Improvements)

VoLTE is one way in which networks could take voice calls onto the data network. Some reports suggest that this technology could lead to benefits like better battery life, and voice over Wi-Fi; but pricing could be high, and call drops could also be a problem - at least initially. Prasad however doesn't agree with these points.

"At this point, the advantages to battery life would not be substantial," he says. "And network quality is the function of any new technology roll out, so it will also improve quickly. There is one additional factor in the VoLTE and 4G experience, which is the spectrum used - the lower the spectrum band you use, the better the coverage will be."

Price could still be a deterrent, but Prasad is optimistic, and points to Airtel stating that it will charge the same for 4G as it did for 3G as a positive sign.

LTE-Broadcast on the other hand could be used to enable targeted broadcasts of video.

"Imagine that you're in a stadium watching a cricket match," explains Prasad. "You're watching the match live, and the network could also broadcast the instant replays live to all the handsets inside the stadium, so you don't miss a thing." This kind of targeted broadcast wouldn't affect the speed of the rest of the network either, because the content is being served from a node close to the stadium, he adds.

Aside from videos for entertainment, Prasad believes that other kinds of video content will also drive adoption of 4G/ LTE.

"Surveillance is one area where LTE would definitely make a difference, and another one is in telemedicine. You could power video sessions especially as handsets get better screens and cameras," says Prasad.