Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Tariff cuts fuel mobile usage in India: report
Thursday, 04 December 2003, 20:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Enthused by sharply lower tariffs in one of the world's fastest growing cellular markets, Indians are talking on mobiles like never before, the country's telecom industry watchdog said Tuesday.
The average minutes of use in India's booming mobile phone market grew from 266 in the quarter ended June this year to 298 in the July-September period, said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in a report.
The average revenue per user, a financial barometer for mobile phone service providers, however, decreased from 
522 to 516 in the same period, showing a decline of 1.14 percent.
"This trend appears to emerge due to a gradual decrease in tariff for cellular services and increase in the usage," said the TRAI report.
The watchdog said the gross subscriber base of the basic and cellular services together reached 64.77 million at the end of the quarter ending September 2003 from 58.70 million in the previous quarter.
The subscribers of basic services increased from 41.38 million to 41.74 million and that for mobile services from 17.32 million to 23.03 million in the same quarter.
"While the fixed line phones showed a negligible growth, mobile subscribers showed a growth of 33 percent to reach a total of 23 million. The annual growth for this segment increased to 164 percent," said the TRAI report.
It said the gross telephone density have grown to 6.48 indicating an increase of 10.4 percent over the previous quarter.
"It is expected that targeted telephone density of seven planned for March 2005, will be achieved during the next quarter, more than 15 months before schedule," said the report.
The subscribers' base of Internet witnessed an increase of about 5.5 percent during the quarter. The number of subscribers increased from 3.77 million to 3.98 million as on September 2003.
Source: IANS
522 to 516 in the same period, showing a decline of 1.14 percent.
"This trend appears to emerge due to a gradual decrease in tariff for cellular services and increase in the usage," said the TRAI report.
The watchdog said the gross subscriber base of the basic and cellular services together reached 64.77 million at the end of the quarter ending September 2003 from 58.70 million in the previous quarter.
The subscribers of basic services increased from 41.38 million to 41.74 million and that for mobile services from 17.32 million to 23.03 million in the same quarter.
"While the fixed line phones showed a negligible growth, mobile subscribers showed a growth of 33 percent to reach a total of 23 million. The annual growth for this segment increased to 164 percent," said the TRAI report.
It said the gross telephone density have grown to 6.48 indicating an increase of 10.4 percent over the previous quarter.
"It is expected that targeted telephone density of seven planned for March 2005, will be achieved during the next quarter, more than 15 months before schedule," said the report.
The subscribers' base of Internet witnessed an increase of about 5.5 percent during the quarter. The number of subscribers increased from 3.77 million to 3.98 million as on September 2003.
Source: IANS