Juniper predicts Indian mobile content boom

Industry analyst Juniper Research has predicted that operator-billed mobile data revenues in the Indian subcontinent will rise from $3 billion in 2008 to more than $8.3 billion by 2013.

Games will be part of that growth, generating "substantial" revenue streams by 2013, along with mobile TV and full-track music downloads, according to the 'Mobile Indian Sub Continent' report.

New 3G networks are also expected to get more Indian mobile users paying for games, when they are rolled out next year.

The report also claims that there'll be nearly 740 million mobile users in the Indian subcontinent by 2013, up from 431 million this year. The report covers India, but also Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

India in particular has had plenty of mobile games activity in recent years from local publishers, but with the predicted surge in mobile content usage, the big Western firms may also ramp up their distribution efforts in the region.