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Every second Punjabi now has a phone!
Tuesday, 04 September 2007, 19:30 IST
Chandigarh: Punjab is undergoing a not-so-silent revolution and it is certainly not green in colour. The state that saw a green revolution in the 1960s and 70s is now undergoing another one, this time in telecommunications with every second resident having a telephone - be it mobile or landline.
The tele-density of the prosperous state is nearly 46 percent - double the national average of 20 percent. While one out of every five Indians has a telephone nationally, the figure in the state goes up to almost one out of two people.
Latest figures with mobile and other telecom companies reveal that there are over 11 million telephone subscribers in the state with a population of over 24 million (according to the 2001 census). Most of the subscribers are mobile phone users.
The initial years in the state - where cellular telephony started in June 1997 with mobile operator Spice - were sluggish. Till Dec 31, 2000, the number of mobile subscribers was as low as 136,509.
A little over a year later, in February 2002, entered Bharti Telecom's Airtel brand followed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Hutch later.
And by June 30 this year, mobile subscribers in the state had swelled to over 7.4 million in the global system for mobile communication (GSM) category itself.
"Punjab has shown such a scorching pace in telephone growth. We as market leaders are indeed proud of it. The people of Punjab are known the world over for their dynamism and practical approach, embracing technology that helps improve their efficiency and profitability," Airtel chief executive officer (mobile services) Rajiv Jaitly said.
"In the coming months we expect to see this rapid pace to continue for companies like us who continuously invest in state-of-the-art technologies and make the mobile experience of customers an enjoyable one."
The preferred technology among mobile users seems to be GSM with 68 percent of all mobile users opting for it.
While Airtel as market leader has over 2.73 million subscribers, Spice has over 2.1 million followed by Hutch (1.35 million) and BSNL (1.23 million).
"My drivers and some workers have been given mobile phones by me so that I can be in touch with them at any time. This helps my business," Jalandhar-based exporter Arvind Gulati said.
Punjab is not an ever-growing market for cellular operators alone. Top mobile handsets companies like Nokia and others see it as a big market with a lot of subscribers wanting to buy expensive handsets.
Over 55 percent of handsets sold in Chandigarh and Punjab are the high-end ones - those costing 
10,000 and above. Stores in Chandigarh and Ludhiana showcase and sell mobile handsets that start at a whopping 2.5 million apiece.
"Punjabis are fond of flaunting expensive mobiles and cars. I think it's in our blood," said businessman Rippy Brar of Ludhiana.
Punjab's mobile-related craze is unending. A mobile-buff in Ludhiana recently bought a VIP mobile number in an open auction for 55 million. Another banker in Jalandhar has over 86 VIP mobile numbers and wants to take the list to 100 such numbers.
High-end mobile handset sales even in metro cities are just 25-35 percent among all sales.
In the landline category, BSNL tops with over 1.7 million subscribers (till June 30) followed by Reliance (763,316), Tata Indicom (733,435) and Connect (314,405). The latest entrant in the landline field, Airtel, has got a base of nearly 55,000 landline subscribers in just over a year.
Source: IANS
10,000 and above. Stores in Chandigarh and Ludhiana showcase and sell mobile handsets that start at a whopping 2.5 million apiece.
"Punjabis are fond of flaunting expensive mobiles and cars. I think it's in our blood," said businessman Rippy Brar of Ludhiana.
Punjab's mobile-related craze is unending. A mobile-buff in Ludhiana recently bought a VIP mobile number in an open auction for 55 million. Another banker in Jalandhar has over 86 VIP mobile numbers and wants to take the list to 100 such numbers.
High-end mobile handset sales even in metro cities are just 25-35 percent among all sales.
In the landline category, BSNL tops with over 1.7 million subscribers (till June 30) followed by Reliance (763,316), Tata Indicom (733,435) and Connect (314,405). The latest entrant in the landline field, Airtel, has got a base of nearly 55,000 landline subscribers in just over a year.
Source: IANS