KACHARAGADLA

India is expected to have 9 crore 4G subscribers and 18 crore 4G smartphones by 2018 and Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular will gain from this growth if Reliance Jio Infocomm delays the launch of its 4G services, says a report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA ML). "We expect 4G smartphone base to jump from 5 million in FY 2015 to 180 million (18 crores) by FY 2018, leading to 4G subscribers accelerating from almost zero in FY 2016 to 90 million (9 crores) by FY 2018," a report by BoFA ML research analysts Sachin Salgaonkar, Karan Parmanandka and Simon Dong-je Woo said. In next few years, there will be marginal difference between 3G and 4G tariffs as well as there will be decline in smartphone prices that may lead 2G subscribers leapfrog to 4G services and skip 3G, analysts expect. "We expect 4G net adds to be faster than 3G net adds by FY 2019 and estimate 3G subscribers to be largely restricted in areas where 4G coverage is limited. "Howev