Indian Telecom Market Saw 36% Value Growth In Offline Retail In 2022: GfK Report

A latest report by GfK revealed that global telecom market closed 2022 with a 9.7 per cent decline in revenue compared to the previous year, India was one of the silver linings in Telecom Industry with a double-digit revenue growth in the same period over the previous year including Smartphones, Core Wearables and TWS mobile headsets.

The smartphone category, including phablets, saw a 15 per cent demand increase from January to December 2022 compared to the previous year.

This increase in revenue is also characterised by increasing ASP in the smartphone market in India. The ASP of Smartphones was Rs 17,032 which was a 17 per cent growth over 2021. This shift in the ASP was also due to a shift in the price band demand which was led by changing needs of the consumers. 37 per cent of smartphones sold in 2022 were Rs 15,000 and above by units. This is a 9 basis points increase from in contribution over 2021.

Accordingly, demand for premium devices also increased, with the revenue contribution of 5G models moving to 44 per cent in 2022. At the same time devices with a larger storage capacity of more than 256 GB grew 122 per cent in revenue in 2022.

Wearables as a segment continued its growth in India and grew by 127 per cent in terms of value over the previous year in offline retail. Within wearables categories in 2022, smartwatches grew by 93 per cent and wrist sports computers by 349 per cent over the previous year.

These shifts have been driven by increasing consumer demand for more detailed control of their health, via smart features. Accordingly, wearables with a sleep tracking feature (plus 136 per cent) or blood oxygen sensors (plus 208 per cent) showed strong growth. This trend also led to developments in innovation, such as the new feature of stress level measuring (EDA) which accounts for 5 per cent of revenue already.

GfK experts forecast 2023 to be stable with value-driven growth for the Indian Telecom market compared to 2022. 

“While the top-tier towns continue to have a significant share, the shift in consumer needs and changing lifestyles are pushing higher adoption of smart devices in Tier 3 and below towns which contributed to 50 per cent of the smartphone sales unit in 2022 while for wearables it contributed to 21 per cent. Overall, the next level of telecom market growth will be driven by premium handsets, 5G, and wearable devices,” said Kartik Vasudevan, GfK expert for the Telecom market.