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The Indian mobile services industry is moving in full swing, be it investment, subscriber number, technology, or VAS. Also, the industry is coming up with innovative ways to lower their cost of operations, as it helps in maintaining their bottom line. Apart from this, cut-throat competition in terms of technology (CDMA v/s GSM) as well as among the service providers has pushed the industry to innovate. This has benefited the consumer.

Not only services providers, even the handset vendors are facing tough competition, as all the major handset manufacturers are present in the country. The vendors have launched products at attractive prices and are also trying to get an increased share of the pie by packaging it along with services, making it more affordable. All this has helped the industry make quantum growth.        

India has been performing better than China in terms of subscriber additions from last few months. China launched its mobile services in 1988 whereas India started it in 1995. In terms of additions, China has been adding around 4-5 mn subscribers every month, after 13 years of its service. But India has been able to do in the 11th year of its service. All this speaks about the high demand from December 2005 onwards and it is still continuing. 

If one looks at statistics, it is also heartwarming. Metros like Delhi, Mumbai and states such as Gujarat have crossed the 5 mn mark and it seems majority of A circles have already achieved this mark. Some of the A circles like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu will achieve this mark in another couple of months. On the operator side, Hutch Gujarat leads the pack with 2.26 mn subscribers followed by Bharti Airtel in Karnataka  (2.13 mn), Bharti Airtel in Delhi (2.07 mn), and Hutch Essar in Mumbai (2 mn).

Numbers Speak
In terms of subscriber number, the cellular services industry has improved from last year. In FY 2004-05, the net additions were around 18 mn whereas in FY 2005-06, the net additions were around 38.5 mn, an increase of 114%. On cumulative basis, India has grown by 73.5% taking the overall tally to 90.8 mn. Of this, GSM contributes 76% whereas CDMA contributes 24%. The industry has added 38.5 mn mobile lines ie around 3.2 mn lines every month and around 90,000 connections every month. As every month, 4-5 mn lines are being added, growth continues even in the year 2006.

Becasue of this, lot of requests came from operators to start services in new circles. The large-scale expansion taken up by all the operators in smaller cities and towns is the main reason for this outstanding growth. The launch in new circles by Tata Teleservices and Aircel have also given a thrust to this boom. As of March 2006, the country had around 127 mobile networks (inclusive of GSM and CDMA) circles, which is an increase of around 8%.

In terms of subscriber growth, Tata Teleservices Group led with 345% followed by MTNL with 105%. All the top five players grew more than 45%. Bharti Airtel led the group with 19.5 mn subscribers followed by BSNL with 18.4 mn and Reliance Communications with 17.3 mn subscribers.

According to VOICE&DATA, the cellular services industry for FY 2005-06 is estimated to be around Rs 35,879 crore ($8 bn), an increase of 57.5%. In FY 2004-05, the mobile services revenue was Rs 22,787 crore. All the top five players grew by more than 31% whereas Tata Teleservices Group outpaced everybody and grew by 259%.

In terms of revenue, Bharti Airtel leads the group, whereas Hutch, Reliance Group and BSNL are neck and neck with revenues of more than Rs 6,500 crore. Tata Teleservices Group has done pretty well and has moved up considerably, thanks to their aggressive strategy.