Saturday, February 09, 2002
India's phone mkt growing faster than forecast
REUTERS
MUMBAI: The Indian telecom market -- already projected to be the world's fastest-growing over the next few years -- could expand even more quickly than estimated.
The number of phone lines could more than double by 2005 to nine per hundred people, Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh said.
"We had a target of 7 per cent by 2005...but...I expect it will exceed seven per cent...maybe touch 9 per cent," he said.
Ghosh was speaking to reporters at the annual seminar of the National Association of Software & Service Companies.
The nation of more than a billion people has just four telephones per 100 people -- one of the lowest teledensity rates in the world.
But India is now adding 10,000 telephone lines per hour and 250,000 mobile phones per month.
"Still this implies that nearly 95 per cent of the households are yet to be covered," Ghosh said.
The low teledensity and opening of the phone industry to private investment is expected to make India the fastest-growing telecom market in the world over coming years.
Global technology research firm Gartner last August said it expected India's mobile phone industry to grow by a compounded 52.5 per cent through 2005 to 30.9 million subscribers, double China's 26 per cent growth.
Fixed-line subscribers were expected to jump to 83 million by 2005, it said.
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