India's telecom industry set to cross 20 crore mark

The telecom industry is poised to cross another milestone as the total telephone subscribers will soon be crossing 20 crore. The Eocnomic Times reports that according to December 06 figures, telephone subcribers were over 19 crore, while wireless subscribers account for 15 crore. India's mobile industry adds over 6 million subscribers each month.

The telecom industry grew 4.5% sequentially, with wireless net addition of 6.4 million in the month of December ‘06, taking the overall wireless subscriber base to 14.9 crore. The growth was driven by highest ever net adds by Bharti, Reliance and Hutch. The GSM operators added 72.4% with 4.6 million subscribers while CDMA operators added 1.8 million subscribers, according to JM Morgan Stanley estimates.

Metros grew at 3.2%, whereas class B and C circles continue to grow faster with subscriber growth of 5.5% and 6.2%, respectively vis-a-vis 4.5% for the country. Wireless penetration for metros, class B and C circles now stands at 54.8%, 10.3% and 5.9%, respectively.