50% of Gujarat’s population owns a mobile phone: Trai

The telecom industry is flourishing in the country, and Gujarat’s contribution to its growth is stunning — the state is the seventh in India to cross the three crore mobile phone subscription mark.  According to a report released recently by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), Gujarat crossed the milestone in January this year. Given that the state has a population of about six crore, it means that  one in every two persons in Gujarat flashes a mobile phone. Trai’s figures indicate that Gujarat has more than 50% mobile density; the numbers reflect a high demand from the state’s rural areas . Trai report suggests that around 85% of the three crore subscribers prefer pre-paid connections to post-paid.

In May 1997, when the incoming charge for a call was Rs8 per minute, there were only 4,100 mobile connections in Gujarat. It took 10 years for the state to touch the one crore mark. However, the number of subscribers increased remarkably thereafter. It took only another 17 months for that figure to double. And by the end of January 2010, that is, in only about 15 months, Gujarat recorded a total of 3,01,41,470 mobile phone connections, the Trai report says. The total mobile phone or wireless connections in the country, by the end of January 2010, was at 54.50 crore. Gujarat contributes 5.2% to the national mobile phone subscriptions.  “Gujarat has already crossed the 50% penetration mark,” said Shivan Bharagava, the COO of Bharti Airtel, Gujarat Circle. “And although there is 100% penetration in urban areas, the bulk of opportunities that lie  in the rural segment are yet to be tapped.”