Apple takes lion's share in 4G handset market in India

In India, Airtel offers 4G service in 1800 Mhz band frequency while other companies are yet to roll out their services.

American tech giant Apple has the biggest share of the total 14.8 million 4G-enabled devices active across all important frequencies in the country, says a study by Nokia Networks.

Among the top 15 4G models, Apple devices - iPhone and iPad - occupy the top two slots.

iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 devices, which support 4G services in 1800 Mhz band, are top models with 10.46 per cent and 8.9 per cent shares respectively, as per the study.

In India, Airtel offers 4G service in 1800 Mhz band frequency while other companies are yet to roll out their services.

At present, telecom companies hold spectrum in 1800 Mhz band, 850 Mhz band, 2300 Mhz band that can be used for 4G services in India. As per the study, Nokia Networks sees potential for providing using 2100 Mhz band for 4G services which is at present being used for 3G services.

"LTE (4G) device penetration is still low at 1.61 per cent. 1800 Mhz enabled LTE devices leads with 1.45 per cent (13.3 million) followed by 2100 Mhz enabled devices at 1.2 per cent," the report said.

Airtel has highest number of circles with 3G spectrum. The study shows that the number of 4G enabled devices in 2100 Mhz or 3G band connected to network is more compared to number of devices available for 4G service in 2300 Mhz band -- the band opted by Reliance Jio Infocomm to foray into the telecom business.

iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 models have highest share of 18.12 per cent and 15.42 per cent respectively among connected devices that can support 4G services 850 Mhz band, says the study.

Reliance Communications and RJIL are planning to jointly roll out 4G services using 850 Mhz band spectrum.

Though Apple leads the segment of active 4G devices, the study also found that six out of top 10 devices in 1800 Mhz are priced below Rs 8,000.

Lenovo A6000 follows iPhones among connected devices in 1800 Mhz band with 7.5 per cent share. It is again followed by Apple's iPhone 5 which has 5.78 per cent share.

Xiaomi's RedmiNote 3 and Micromax Yu Yureka are at 5th and 6th spot among devices in 1800 Mhz band, as per the study.

Samsung Galaxy A5 follows iPhones at 4th spot among top 15 devices capable of supporting 4G services.

Nokia Networks spokesperson clarified that the data is not about shipment or sale of devices but only about devices that are active on networks and the kind of service that they can support.