Towns and rural markets driving growth

Posted on | October 19, 2005 |

Rural and semi-urban India are not the mobile markets of the future. They are the present; already taking a lead. Cellular growth over the last 12 months has been largely driven by subscriber additions in smaller towns and rural markets. The Indian cellular market has witnessed an average growth of 3.5% per month during the last year. A geographical break-up reveals that this rate has been propped up by category B and C circles.

According to data compiled by industry bodies and the Department of Telecommunications, C and B category circles have shown an average monthly growth of 6.5% and 4.23%, against 2.49% and 3.14% for the Metros and A-class circles, during the last 12 months.

DoT data puts the number of middle-to-high-income households at 21.16 million in rural India and 23.22 million in urban India. Telecom regulator TRAI says rural markets have sufficient purchasing power to drive up subscriber growth. Indicated by the fact that both rural and urban areas had same number of middle to high income households, while the penetration was 25 times lower in former.

Source: Business Standard

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