Indian mobile boom accelerates

More and more Indians have a mobile phone

India's love affair with the mobile phone is showing no signs of slowing down.

The number of subscribers has almost doubled in the past year, according to the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI).

It said the country had 9.7 million mobile users by November this year compared with 5.2 million in 2001.

With mobile companies finding it increasingly difficult to recruit new customers in Europe and some parts of Asia, the Indian mobile boom is good news for the industry.

Innovation

Lower tariffs and innovative service packages are thought to have contributed to the surge.

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam, for example, has targeted its 37 million-strong fixed-line user base to sign up more than 300,000 new subscribers in 14 states where it began service in October.

Existing fixed-line subscribers do not have to pay deposits on their handsets - a common arrangement in a country where the lack of credit makes prepay the predominant type of mobile deal.

Nor do they pay for incoming calls coming from a Bharti line.

Indian subscribers, like American mobile users, must pay by the minute for the calls they receive, as well as the ones they make.