Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE, along with Micromax, control nearly 81% of India’s data card, or USB dongle, market, according 6Wresearch.
The market, which was previously commanded by the CDMA segment is now witnessing a strong shift towards GSM based Data Cards, the market research said in a report.
Huawei led the overall market, with ZTE and Micromax following. About 69% of the cards were based on GSM technology.
In number of cards sold, the total market shrank by 16% in the first half of 2014 compared to the second half of 2013.
India Data Card market registered an annual shipments of 6.72 million units for the year ending June 2014. 4G Data Cards recorded a stunning growth of 281% in H2 over H1 2014.
Dongles with speed of 7.2 MBPS captured around 43% of the total market share.
India Data Card market witnessed an increase in demand for HSDPA 14.4, HSDPA 21.6 and LTE based Data Cards. Further, 4G enabled Data Cards registered 7% share of the market.
“However, these Data Cards exhibited an amazing growth of 281% in H2 over H1 2014. Further, 4G enabled Data Cards are further likely to witness significant growth over the coming quarters as a result of increasing demand for high-speed internet.”
The manufacturers have been concentrating in the open Data Card market to provide more feasible options for the Indian consumers. Rise in the adoption of internet-enabled devices like tablets, smart TV’s and laptops among the Indian customers is likely to boost the demand for WI-FI based Data Cards in the market. Recently, HUAWEI has launched seven new Wi-Fi data cards in the Indian market.
“Increasing demand for social media, internet, gaming, mobile banking and other data centric services acts as some of the major growth drivers for the India Data Card market. Additionally, government initiatives in mobile broadband penetration, customer awareness and low cost data plans would further assist the growth of India Data Card Market,” the agency added.