By 2020, telecom sector likely to have economic value of $217 billion

With FDI coming from the last 18 years, sale of mobile applications have also increased the value.

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NEW DELHI: The Telecom industry, which has attracted foreign direct investment of more than 32 billion dollars from April 2000 to June 2018, is expected to create an economic value of 217 billion dollars within next two years, a study said here.

India ranked 29th globally in revenue generation with 47 million dollars from the sale of mobile applications through iOS and Google Play.

The top three are: the US with 3.2 billion dollars, Japan with 2.7 billion dollars and China (only iOS) with 2.4 billion dollars.

According to a study conducted by India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), 100 per cent FDI in the telecom industry has attracted smartphone makers and application developers.

As per data released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the cumulative FDI inflows into the telecommunication sector reached 31.

75 billion dollars from April 2000 to June 2018, versus 15.67 billion dollars from April 2000 to May 2014.

The study said in June, 2018, India was the world's second largest telecommunications market with a wireless subscriber base of 1.15 billion, internet subscriber base of 512.26 million, and wireless internet subscriber base of 491.1 million.

Urban mobile internet penetration was 59 per cent and rural was 18 per cent.