IWith the increasing use of mobile phones in India, the country is soon going to be the third largest in the world in terms of the mobile users. With more and more number of mobile phones being sold everyday, there is a lot of growth for mobile and cellular network companies. India is already one of the fastest growing telecom networks in the world. This is due to its high population and fast rate of growth.

Rural India is still inadequate in terms of connectivity for efficient telecommunication. BSNL is one of the main public sector telecommunication companies in India. It has been rated 7th largest in the world. Hutch, BPL, MTNL, Bharti Telecom, Reliance and Tata Indicom are the other active telecommunication operators in India.

India’s mobile phone industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Mobile phones in India were formally launched in august 1995. For the first few years after the advent of mobile phones, monthly subscriptions were added to the tune of 0.05 to 0.1 million in India. Subsequently the subscriber base stood at 10.5 million in December 2002. The Indian mobile phone industry has entered a phase of boom due to many proactive measures taken by various licensors and regulators. Two Million mobile subscribers were added every month in India from 2003 to 2005. The two other countries with more number of mobile phones users than India are USA and China. The main technologies followed by India for mobile communication are global GSM and CDMA.GSM is the global system for mobile communication and CDMA is based on code division multiple access. Mobile tariffs are very low in India.

Thirty two million mobile handsets were sold in India in the year 2005. Attractive Indian ring tones are being promoted as a tool to woo the customer. They primarily comprise of music of Indian origin like Indian film songs and bhajans. Total revenue generated by the telecom service sector in 2004-2005 was 86,720 crores in India. This meant an increase of revenue by 21% from the previous year. Airtel covers 21.45 of subscriber base in India. Reliance is the second largest with a subscription controlling a base of 20.3%. BSNL follows closely at 18.6% and Hutch was 14.7% according to a June 2005 survey.

Reduced call and roaming rates, price reduction in the cost of the handset, attractive schemes that benefit the customer etc are all being used so that more number of people go mobile. Users are also enjoying a host of other services that the network companies are providing. Mobile phone companies are manufacturing cheap handsets and the network service provider are offering life-time prepaid services to millions of low-income earners so that they can expand their business in the market and maintain their rate of growth.