Isabelle Paradis
May 2008
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According to the information released by HOT TELECOM (www.hottelecom.com) in its latest report “India telecom country profile 2008”, India's mobile phones now account for 86.9% of the total telephones, after surpassing the number of fixed lines for the first time in 2004. The sector grew by an average rate of 87.7% in the last 5 years to reach 261.1 million subscribers (including GSM, CDMA and WLL) at the end of March 2008, surpassing the US for the first time (in terms of mobile subscribers) and becoming the world's second largest mobile market after China.
73.7% of the country's mobile customers are subscribed to GSM and the remainder are CDMA customers. The mobile growth trend is continuing albeit at a slower pace, with the number of mobile customers increasing by 11.8% in the first three months of 2008. The sector's penetration rate now stands at 23.1%, compared with 2.7% in 2003.
Mobile growth is forecasted to remain in the double digits until the end of the forecasted period, with an average growth rate of 22.8% between 2007 and the end of 2012. At that time, mobile subscribers are forecasted to have reached 643.0 million and a penetration rate of 51.8%. Mobile phones should then represent 94.0% of all telephone connections in India .
This 45-page report, which includes 32 details exhibits and tables on India 's telecom market, declares that with over 1.1 billion inhabitants and a highly competitive telecom market, India is and will remain one of the world's most dynamic and promising telecom markets for the next five years, even surpassing China in terms of market vitality. Teledensity has increased close to four-fold in the last five years and service tariffs have gone down substantially. The last five years have witnessed the number of fixed and mobile phones more than quadruple, taking the total number to 300.5 million at the end of March 2008. “Total telecom penetration has increased from 6.6% in 2003 to 26.6% at the end of 1Q 2008, a growth almost entirely generated by the mobile sector” HOT TELECOM's president Isabelle Paradis said.
Find out more about the Indian telecom market in HOT TELECOM's new 45-page “ India telecom country profile 2008” report, which can be purchased online at: http://www.hottelecom.com/india-copr.html.
