MUMBAI: India's cellular sector, the world's fastest growing, added a record 4.7 million new customers in January as carriers expanded their reach and offered cut-price phones to attract them.
The number of mobile users in India surged to 81.1 million last month, including 1.2 million new users reported by the association representing five carriers offering services based on Code Division Multiple Access technology, data out on Tuesday showed.
On Monday, carriers running mobile facilities on the widely prevalent Global System for Mobile platform said 3.5 million new customers had opted for their services in January. In December, 4.45 million GSM and CDMA users entered the cut-throat sector, in which users enjoy the world's lowest local call rates.
The Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers said top CDMA services firm Reliance Infocomm Ltd. added 804,207 mobile customers in January, boosting its user base to 13.8 million.
About 380,590 customers chose second-ranked Tata Teleservices Ltd., whose subscriber base grew to more than 4 million.
Despite all the growth, mobile services in Asia's third-largest economy are still used by only 8 in 100 Indians compared with penetration of more than 29 percent in China, the world's largest wireless services market.
Reliance and Tata compete with larger GSM players like Bharti Airtel Ltd. and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
Eco-friendly IT process not only makes a good environment sense, but also a very good business sense. Join us in this initiative that protects nature and your business.
know more..