Cellular service users poised to touch two million mark

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 18. The number of cellular service users in the country is poised to touch the 2-million mark with Delhi emerging as the city with the highest number of subscribers beating Mumbai to the second place, according to figures released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

Though traditional wisdom had it that Mumbai would account for the highest number of cell phone users, the national capital surprisingly leads the country's commercial capital by a margin of little over 20,000 subscribers. Delhi had been identified by the Department of Telecommunications earlier as one of the cities where demand for land line phones has traditionally been weaker than anticipated. Perhaps, cell phones have become an important accessory in status-conscious Delhi whereas their purchase in Mumbai has been guided by a genuine need for the wireless technology.

Bharti Cellular, one of the two private cellular operators in Delhi, has emerged as the country's largest single cellular phone operator with nearly two lakh subscribers. BPL Mobile, the operator in Mumbai, comes second with 1.77 lakh subscribers.

While all the four companies operating in Delhi and Mumbai have well over one lakh subscribers each, the demand for cell phones elsewhere in the country is weak. The four companies in the other two metros - Chennai and Calcutta - have subscriber bases well below the one lakh mark each. Chennai has only 58,000 subscribers with RPG Cellular accounting for 33,000 and Skycell 25,000. Calcutta has seen stronger demand and its subscriber base is poised to touch one lakh. Here, Modi Telestra accounts for 52,000 connections and Usha Martin 42,000.

In States, only the Hinduja owned Fascel has the distinction of crossing the one-lakh-mark. Others including the mighty AT & T -Birla-Tata in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat or the efficient BPL Cellular in Tamil Nadu and Kerala have struggled to garner half the number of subscribers with Fascel.

Only Spice Telecom in Punjab is nearing the one lakh mark but that is because it had the field to itself as the licence of the second operator was cancelled by the then Union Communications Minister, Mr. Jagmohan, for non-payment of dues.

Of the five `A' category circles, Tamil Nadu occupies the last place and is preceded by Andhra Pradesh. Gujarat, mainly due to Fascel's strong showing, occupies the top slot and is followed by Karnataka and Maharashtra. In the eight `B' category circles, U.P. (East) is the surprise leader, pipping the more literate and affluent Kerala to the second spot.

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Section  : Business
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