Home broadband market holds potential for both big, regional players: Report

India's home broadband segment has been "highly underpenetrated" for years due to a weak wired infrastructure, execution woes, and high investment requirements, but Jio's entry, with aggressive targets, has drawn attention of all to the opportunity the market holds, according to a report.

The report by Motilal Oswal titled - The Home Broadband play, said that the market presents an opportunity for both regional and big players.

"India's home broadband market, unlike the developed markets, has remained highly underpenetrated for years due to a weak wired infrastructure, plagued by execution woes, high investment requirements, and long-standing regulatory issues," it said.

This has led to the substitution of wireless data consumption, it added.

"However, RJio's recent foray (with tall targets), especially after delivering huge success in the wireless market, has attracted all eyes on the opportunity in the Home Broadband market," it said.

The report further said that the Indian wireline market is currently dominated by the telcos (BSNL, Bharti, and RJio), which account for about 57 per cent of the total market size.

With RJio's launch, Bharti (among select other players) has stepped up network rollout / home passes to gain ground and protect its turf, the report added.

Instead of merely offering pure-play data connectivity plans, telcos are targeting sticky premium customers with higher Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) fiber-based plans (FTTH), along with value-added services such as entertainment, home security, and automation.

"Nevertheless, the market for even regional players remains buoyant, especially in the recent lockdown, as our channel check suggests there is increased demand for low ARPU conventional home broadband connectivity," it said.

This is also evident from performance of regional players over March to August 2020, which accounted for 84 per cent of the overall wireline subscriber growth of 7 per cent, according to the report by Motilal Oswal.

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This, in turn, indicates there is a market for both sets of players, it added.