February 16, 2007
India Telecom: 6.81 Million New Mobile Subscribers In January 2007

By Beverly Maniago
TMCnet Contributing Editor

India Telecom, one of the largest telecom companies in the world, released a report this week claiming that 6.81 million new wireless and mobile subscribers were created in India during January, 2007.
 
Overall, India Telecom said, wireless subscriptions in the county now count at about 156.31 million. The company also reported that, during January, 2.15 million new broadband subscribers were created.
 
India is one of the fastest growing and developing country that offers great potential for telecom networks. Although some parts of India, especially its rural areas, still lack strong infrastructure, telecommunications in this country is noticeably progressing. In April 2005, the country reached the 100 million mark in telephone subscriptions and it was nearly doubled in January 2007.
 
Today, India’s major telecom companies are looking for solutions to address coverage problem and network congestion to improve wireless communication.
 
India is one of the biggest telecom markets in Asia. Indian telecom sectors used to be under the management of Indian government until 1990 when private sectors were allowed to participate in offering telecom services to improve service quality and lower tariffs. Soon after, India was recognized as one of the largest mobile markets worldwide.
 
In 1995, mobile services were commercially launched. It was not a huge success because handsets were expensive and tariff for mobile phones was high. However, when the problems were addressed accordingly, 10.5 million Indians embraced the new technology in December 2002. In 2003 – 2005, mobile subscribers increased by 2 million per month.
 
Today, India is using code-division multiple access (CDMA) and global systems for mobile communications (GSM) technologies in mobile sector. Other telecom companies are also offering broadband wireless access. India now has eleven mobile service providers and forty-two internet providers across the country.
 
Beverly Maniago is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.