India became the fastest growing mobile market in the world, as record 6.2 Million cell phone subscribers were added in the month of September (2006), as per the recent industry figures.
Indian Telecom Industry added highest number of mobile subscribers in September this year. There were 4.4 Million mobile phone subscribers added by GSM industry while CDMA added 1.7 Million. Total subscriber base (mobile) reached over 112.1 Million, whereas number of fixed and mobile subscriber totaled to 153.4 Million, as per Cellular Operators Association Figures released on Monday, October 9 2006.
India's top cellular operator, Airtel added 1.4 Million GSM customers, increasing its subscriber base to over 27 Million. BSNL's (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) subscriber base increased to 20.9 Million with over 876,000 new users.
"Much of the growth in Asia Pacific Wireless Telecommunication Market is spurred by the growth in demand in countries like India and China. India's mobile phone subscriber base is growing at a rate of 82.2%," as per RNCOS' report "Indian Telecom Sector Analysis (2006-2007)."
As subscriber base saw an increase, tariff rates maintained their declining trend. Revenue Realization every minute for GSM operators went down to 85 paise in quarter that ended in June this year from 93 paise in March this year.
Number of Internet subscribers rose to 7.71 Million from 6.94 Million during same period. Broadband subscribers, with 256 kbps download speed or more, witnessed a growth of over 15 % reaching 1.56 Million from 1.34 Million in the same phase.
In 1990s, introduction of cellular services came at a time when India was witnessing tremendous economic growth. Rising competitions among the private players, along with declining tariffs and easy subscription process have led to an increase in mobile subscriptions. India presently is among the nations with lowest tariffs for cell phones.
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