The number of high-speed Internet users is likely to touch 275 million from nine million by 2015, as telecom firms roll out Broadband Wireless Acess (BWA) air waves that were auctioned in June, a study said.

"Recent broadband wireless auctions, in which operators were allocated spectrum, come as a much-needed respite for the future of broadband adoption in India," the study by Assocham and Frost & Sullivan said.

The two institutions expect the deployment of BWA to begin in this fiscal itself.

Considering that around 43 per cent Internet subscribers were still using conventional dial-up connections at the end of 2009, there is a lot of potential to migrate existing subscribers to high-speed services, it added.

BWA spectrum enables high-speed Internet access as well as Internet telephony and TV services. It can also be used for voice and high-speed data services.

In BWA, the government auctioned two slots of 20 MHz each. Internet Service Provider Infotel emerged as the only pan-India winner for BWA spectrum.

On the current low level of broadband penetration (nine million), the study said it was due to factors such as insufficient wire line infrastructure, fragmented local cable operators network and usage rates, and delays in awarding spectrum.

The study further said that mobile handset manufacturers stand to gain from the roll-out of 3G services by private operators.