Techno-commercial feasibility analysis of 4G mobile services in India

This article analyses the techno-commercial feasibility of 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network deployment in India. The discounted cash flow approach that is used considers radio-technical parameters of the LTE network components, Bass model-based forecast of the subscription, and the coverage area matched to the service capacity using a cell-dimensioning approach, in order to estimate the overall investments and profitability for a given average revenue per user. To understand the profitability and the present value of investments for different demand scenarios, a modified internal rate of return, and net present value analyses are performed. Keywords: 4G, LTE, Digital India, Broadband adoption, Bass model, Techno-economic assessment, Discounted cash flow