New Delhi, December 17: The Times of India has reported that the Indian mobile connections are expected to cross over a half billion mark by the starting of the year 2010, that will make India, the second largest group of mobile phone users after China.
India has an overall teledensity, which is the phone connections per 100 people, of roughly 45%, an urban teledensity closer to 97% and a rural teledensity of about 18%.
At the end of October 2009, India had more than 488.40 million wireless connections, a figure which is going to cross a half billion mark just about now.
Although, a few people hold multiple SIM cards, which are not in use at the same time, the number of subscribers might be less than a half a billion.
As the consumers’ preference has shifted to the wireless, including mobile phones, the wire-line connectivity has come down to 37.25 million phones, which has also decreased the broadband penetration to 7.5 million, as it depends upon the wireline phones.
Although, there have been controversies between the government and industry on the crucial issues like spectrum policy, tariffs and introduction of new competition, India has witnessed a remarkable growth in the telecom sector.
There are nearly 14 telecom operators, which are providing wireless connectivity, mobile service in the 22 service areas in India. Out of these service providers, 8-9 companies are operational and another 5-6 operators are still to launch their services.
——Agencies