Mobile Phones Revolution

The communication revolution in India is riding on the surge of mobile phones. This communication device is in the hands of every Indian of all age groups and all economic strata. Every Indian, urban and rural has at least one hand set in the family.

However, the mobile phone revolution has not yet peaked in India. There is a big debate going on the actual teledensity of the mobile phones in the country. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released the date in October 2012 says that out of the total 904.32 million wireless subscribers, 703.92 million were active connections in the country.

According to TRAI, the teledensity, based on total number of mobile connections, has reached 74.21 per cent in India.

However, these figures are contested by the GSM Association (GSMA) a global telecom body. It says that the actual mobile phone users in India are only around 26 percent of the total population.

According to GSMA, the figure they have in their database corresponds to the TRAI figures of around 906 million connections in India. These 906 million connections actually translate to about 71 percent of the population. However, this is not the correct picture of actual mobile users.

The GSMA has found that in terms of unique number of subscribers in India each person has on an average 2.2 SIMs. In such case there are about 380 million actual users and this is about 26 percent of the total population in the country.

According to GSMA India is the second largest market in the world in terms of mobile connections. Mobile phones made its entry in India in 1994. At that time there were only few service providers in the market. The expensive handsets and hefty call charges restricted the use of mobile phones to elite class only.

The government then relaxed licences policy and allowed more operators to enter the market. The rates of the hand sets were brought down, so were the call charges. This led to the phenomenal surge in popularity of mobile phones. The rest, as they say is history.

The mobile phones are providing a sort of lifeline to the rural population in India. In regions where there are no land-line services, mobile phone comes handy to keep in touch with near and dear ones located elsewhere.

The mobile phone has come as a boon for the development of many small businesses and many are encouraged by its use to open their own establishments. It also helps to petty service providers like; electricians, carpenters, plumbers and such service providers, to whom mobile phone gives a lot of businesses.

The number of mobile phone subscribers in India is growing by leaps and bound. There are many shops that have sprung up in every nook and corner of the small towns and big cities selling mobile phones. There are any numbers of mobile service providers in India, each competing on the cellular tariff. The ancillary business of mobile repair service is also flourishing in the country. All this have given a big spurt to the development of India.

The communication revolution, riding on the mobile phones has embarked on an intrusting journey to knit India. India has never been so close to the Indians as it is now in the age of mobile telephony.