Growth trends
The burgeoning subscriber base and more stringent spectrum allocation regime creates a higher requirement of cell – sites or tower sites for operators, to allow greater re-use of the radio frequency allotted to operators.
The Indian telecom industry continued on its high growth path with teledensity crossing the 22%mark. The customer base surpassed 260 million, making India the second larges mobile market in the world – ahead of the USA.
The Industry has been adding more than 8 million customers a month, which is more than the monthly average of China’s telecom industry. In the fixed line segment, significant convergence is taking place, as is evident from the growth of broadband and IPTV services.
India has become one of the fastest-growing mobile markets in the world. ]The mobile services were commercially launched in August 1995 in India. In the initial 5–6 years the average monthly subscribers additions were around 0.05 to 0.1 million only and the total mobile subscribers base in December 2002 stood at 10.5 millions.
However, after the number of proactive initiatives taken by regulator and licensor, the monthly mobile subscriber additions increased to around 2 million per month in the year 2003-04 and 2004-05.
Although mobile telephones followed the New Telecom Policy 1994, growth was tardy in the early years because of the high price of hand sets as well as the high tariff structure of mobile telephones.
The New Telecom Policy in 1999, the industry heralded several pro consumer initiatives. Mobile subscriber additions started picking up.
The number of mobile phones added throughout the country in 2003 was 16 million, followed by 22 million in 2004, 32 million in 2005 and 65 million in 2006. The only country with more mobile phones than India with 246 million mobile phones is China – 408 million.
India has opted for the use of both the GSM (global system for mobile communications) and CDMA (code-division multiple access) technologies in the mobile sector. In addition to landline and mobile phones, some of the companies also provide the WLL service.
The mobile tariffs in India have also become lowest in the world. A new mobile connection can be activated with a monthly commitment of US$0.15 only. In 2005 alone 32 million handsets were sold in India.
The data reveals the real potential for growth of the Indian mobile market.
In March 2008 the total GSM and CDMA mobile subscriber base in the country was 375 million, which represented a nearly 50% growth when compared with previous year.
In April 2008 the Indian Department of Telecom (DoT) has directed all mobile Phone service users to disconnect the usage of unbranded Chinese mobile phones that do not have International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, because they pose a serious security risk to the country. Mobile network operators therefore planned to suspend the usage of around 30 million mobile phones (about 8 % of all mobiles in the country) by April 30.
The burgeoning subscriber base and more stringent spectrum allocation regime creates a higher requirement of cell – sites or tower sites for operators, to allow greater re-use of the radio frequency allotted to operators.
The Indian telecom industry continued on its high growth path with teledensity crossing the 22%mark. The customer base surpassed 260 million, making India the second larges mobile market in the world – ahead of the USA.
The Industry has been adding more than 8 million customers a month, which is more than the monthly average of China’s telecom industry. In the fixed line segment, significant convergence is taking place, as is evident from the growth of broadband and IPTV services.
India has become one of the fastest-growing mobile markets in the world. ]The mobile services were commercially launched in August 1995 in India. In the initial 5–6 years the average monthly subscribers additions were around 0.05 to 0.1 million only and the total mobile subscribers base in December 2002 stood at 10.5 millions.
However, after the number of proactive initiatives taken by regulator and licensor, the monthly mobile subscriber additions increased to around 2 million per month in the year 2003-04 and 2004-05.
Although mobile telephones followed the New Telecom Policy 1994, growth was tardy in the early years because of the high price of hand sets as well as the high tariff structure of mobile telephones.
The New Telecom Policy in 1999, the industry heralded several pro consumer initiatives. Mobile subscriber additions started picking up.
The number of mobile phones added throughout the country in 2003 was 16 million, followed by 22 million in 2004, 32 million in 2005 and 65 million in 2006. The only country with more mobile phones than India with 246 million mobile phones is China – 408 million.
India has opted for the use of both the GSM (global system for mobile communications) and CDMA (code-division multiple access) technologies in the mobile sector. In addition to landline and mobile phones, some of the companies also provide the WLL service.
The mobile tariffs in India have also become lowest in the world. A new mobile connection can be activated with a monthly commitment of US$0.15 only. In 2005 alone 32 million handsets were sold in India.
The data reveals the real potential for growth of the Indian mobile market.
In March 2008 the total GSM and CDMA mobile subscriber base in the country was 375 million, which represented a nearly 50% growth when compared with previous year.
In April 2008 the Indian Department of Telecom (DoT) has directed all mobile Phone service users to disconnect the usage of unbranded Chinese mobile phones that do not have International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, because they pose a serious security risk to the country. Mobile network operators therefore planned to suspend the usage of around 30 million mobile phones (about 8 % of all mobiles in the country) by April 30.