“The Indian Government's Digital India and Make in India initiatives certainly need good internet connectivity which would be the key for all their digital projects. Considering this, the large scale roll-out of 4G would be a boon to this vision and campaign insights of the Indian Government,” says Peter Chang, regional head – South Asia & country manager – ASUS India.
What opportunity do you see in India?
Due to auction more players are now in the market which has widened the spectrum that will help 4G penetration in India. The increased penetration brings in a huge opportunity for various vendors and encourages them to include the entry of 4G enabled handsets. At Asus, we already have devices that are 4G enabled, but the results of this auction are an indication that we can introduce more 4G enabled devices in the Indian market soon. This also motivates us to make more and more of our devices 4G ready.
To make 4G roll out success, a cheaper handset is the way forward. Is Asus planning to rollout budget smartphone in India?
Value for money has always been a primary focus for every customer. Therefore at ASUS, we believe in introducing 4G enabled devices which are not only affordable but also worth the value a customer pays.
Will the large scale roll-out of 4G help government's Digital India and Make in India?
The Indian Government's Digital India and Make in India initiatives certainly need good internet connectivity which would be the key for all their digital projects. Considering this, the large scale roll-out of 4G would be a boon to this vision and campaign insights of the Indian Government. Implementing 4G in more and more of our devices will facilitate easy access to 4G and enable optimum utilization of its roll-out.
Will the 4G VoLTE service change the market dynamics because of its ability to immensely improve quality of VoIP and Video on mobile?
VoLTE will definitely be helpful in certain aspects. However, since all the telecom service providers will not have it, 4G penetration will continue to be the focus. Once the VoLTE services become popular, the internet experiences will keep getting better.
3G faced problem such as high tariff, limited foot print and immature device eco-system, what challenges do you see for 4G in India?
Deploying 4G is definitely not going to be easy in India. The telecom operators might face a bit of struggle in launching a new network along with the already existing and still improving 2G and 3G networks in the country. We hope that the telecom operators come up with a user friendly tariff, which will help speed up the ecosystem build up. As far as the device eco-systems are concerned, the mobile manufacturers all over the world were certain about the 4G roll-out and have been ready with their devices for a 4G environment in India.
