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News >> Technology >>
Mobile subscription on the rise
By agencies
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Wednesday, 10 August 2005, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Mobile growth rate in the country has gone through the roof with an unprecedented 2.45 million new users in July. The growth is 45 percent higher compared to the previous months of the calendar year.
While operators based on GSM technology added close to 1.95 million new users, the CDMA players saw an increase of 5.35 million in their user base. This takes the total subscriber base to 59.83 million users.
The biggest gainer during July was Bharti with 5,30,000 new users followed by state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Reliance Infocomm with 4,90,000 users each. Bharti is also the largest operator in the country with 12.78 million subscribers, followed by Reliance Infocommm with nearly 12 million subscribers.
In terms of circles, Uttar Pradesh saw the highest number of additions with over 200,000 new users in July followed by Karnataka with 1,50,000 new subscribers. Delhi continues to be the leading cellular market with 4.44 million subscribers accounting for 9.47 percent of the total market, closely followed by Mumbai with 4.25 million subscribers.
Fixed line telephones grew by 2,70,000 taking the total to 46.90 million telephones. The gross subscriber base consisting of fixed as well as mobile phones touched 107 million taking the tele-density to 9.86.
Analysts said the steep cut in mobile domestic long distance rates announced last week and the availability of cheap mobile handsets would lead to more growth in August. The growth rate in July comes as a relief to the Government, which has set a target of 250 million users by 2007 - a goal that will require an addition of 4 million new users every month.