India is an ideal market for m-health services, says report

Factors like changing disease profiles, increased adoption of smartphones, advancements in mobile technology, and greater focus on health and wellness are laying concrete foundation for m-health in India.

There are more than 20 initiatives for m-health in the country and it is belived that this number will grow as India has a robust mobile technology infrastructure in place and saw the launch of 4G in 2012.

Furthermore, India has the second largest population in the world and one of the highest numbers of mobile users. The swelling subscriber base is attributed to low tariffs and inexpensive handsets.

According to Frost & Sullivan compound annual growth rates (CAGR) for mobile handset in the rural and urban markets are likely to be 12.4 and 10.6 percent, respectively, till 2016.

mHealth is still a fledgling concept and most of the initiatives undertaken are only a couple of years old. The market has very few successful business models and it will be at least two to five years before a successful model emerges. This is due to the large disparity in mobile infrastructure in rural and urban India.

"Mobile connectivity and data transmission is still a challenge in the rural markets," observed the Frost & Sullivan Analyst. "Since people from these market segments use mobile phones mostly for their voice services, the acceptance of value-added services is very low. The primary reason for this is high prevalence of poverty and illiteracy (around 31 percent) in rural areas."

The urban market, however, continues to witness growth in mobile handset uptake due to the developing replacement market. With quality healthcare being centralized in urban centers, there is a dearth of medical workforce in rural markets.

The healthcare industry is hoping that mobile platforms will close the disparity in service provision. With the increasing penetration of mobile services in rural areas, mHealth solutions can strengthen the healthcare delivery system for the rural population. This will happen only with a collaborative effort on the part of policy makers, telecom providers, and mHealth solution providers.

"The rural population should be educated about the benefits of mHealth services, while the urban population should be encouraged to use mHealth applications to modify and monitor their lifestyle," said the analyst. "Once these objectives are realized, the mHealth application market in India is expected to develop significantly over the period of next five years."