In next 3 years, you may just have to pay Rs 50 per GB for mobile data

You can expect a steep drop in prices of data packs by 2020 and the prices can go as low as Rs 50 per GB.

Presently, on an average a user pays at least Rs 250 for 1GB and the price is set to go down in next three years.

As per Analysys Mason, the 4G LTE data usage would go up to 6-7 GB per month and the 3G data usage is expected to reach 1.5-2 GB by 2020 because 3G tariffs are expected to drop in line with 4G tariffs.

The prices are expected to decline also due to Reliance Jio’s entry as Mukesh Ambani will make 4G phone affordable for 80% of India's population.

"In India, contribution of voice is still higher at 60-70% but we expect India to move in a direction where voice contributes only 30-40%, as per the international benchmarks,” Siddharth Thakkar, consultant at Analysys Mason, told ET.

But, in a bid to have lower prices, the telecom operators will have to maintain a market share of above 17-18% and bring down the cost per GB for the end user to Rs 30-40.

The competition in the telecom sector is going to heat up, thanks to Reliance Jio, which is planning to launch a 4G VoLTE feature phone in the market and this may lead to incumbents losing some of their low-end voice subscribers.