It is not the urban centres alone that are powering India’s phenomenal growth in mobile telephony. Data on rural telephony, compiled by the telecom regulator, shows people in villages are subscribing to mobile services in large numbers.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India data shows that rural mobile phone connections stood at 39.46 million up to June 2007. With a total subscriber base of 185 million that month, rural subscribers formed a formidable block of 21.31 per cent, or over one-fifth of the total mobile user base in India.
The number of rural mobile subscribers is nearly the same as the 40 million fixed line connections installed in the country ever since the first landline telephone exchange was installed in Kolkata by the British in 1881. And if one takes into account the rapid monthly addition in mobile usage overall, rural mobile connections would have already surpassed the total fixed line connections this July itself.
State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) commands a lions’ share of rural mobile phone users by virtue of its massive country-wide network coverage.
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HINTERLAND ON A HIGH |
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Top 15 states |
Rural mobile |
Total rural |
Penetration as % of |
|
Punjab |
2.240 |
10.830 |
20.69 |
|
Himachal Pradesh |
1.000 |
5.850 |
17.09 |
|
Kerala |
2.660 |
25.030 |
10.63 |
|
Haryana |
1.660 |
16.270 |
10.20 |
|
Gujarat |
3.207 |
34.420 |
9.31 |
|
Tamil Nadu |
2.802 |
32.860 |
8.52 |
|
Andaman & Nicobar |
0.023 |
0.278 |
8.27 |
|
Rajasthan |
3.274 |
48.660 |
6.72 |
|
Maharashtra |
3.790 |
59.670 |
6.35 |
|
Karnataka |
2.250 |
36.560 |
6.15 |
|
Andhra Pradesh |
3.276 |
59.270 |
5.52 |
|
Jammu & Kashmir |
0.430 |
8.240 |
5.21 |
|
West Bengal |
3.010 |
62.480 |
4.81 |
|
Orissa |
1.280 |
33.060 |
3.88 |
|
Uttar Pradesh |
4.608 |
147.000 |
3.13 |
|
Total (1-15) |
35.510 |
580.478 |
6.12 |
|
All India (total) |
39.460 |
802.000 |
4.92 |
|
Source: TRAI, mobile connections data up to June 2007, All figures rounded off |
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Source: Business Standard
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