INTERESTING STATISTICS ABOUT THE TELECOM SECTOR

India has the fastest growing telecom network in the world with its high population and
development potential. Airtel, Idea, Reliance, Tata DoCoMo, BSNL, Aircel, Tata Indicom,
Vodafone, MTNL, and Loop Mobile are other major operators in India. However, rural India
still lacks strong infrastructure. India's public sector telecom company BSNL is the 7th
largest telecom company in world .Telephony introduced in India in 1882. The total number
of telephones in the country stands at 960.9 million, while the overall teledensity has
increased to 79.28% as of May 31, 2012. The total numbers of mobile phone subscribers have
reached 929.37 million as of May 2012.The mobile tele-density has increased to 76.68% in
May 2012. In the wireless segment, 8.35 million subscribers were added in May 2012. The
wire line segment subscriber base stood at 31.53 million.
Indian telecom operators added a staggering 227.27 million wireless subscribers in the 12
months between Mar 2010 and Mar 2011 averaging at 18.94 million subscribers every month.
To put this into perspective, China which currently possesses the world's largest
telecommunications network added 119.2 million wireless subscribers during the same period
(March 2010 - March 2011) - averaging 9.93 million subscribers every month (a little over
half the number India was adding every month). So, while India might currently be second to
China in the TOTAL number of mobile subscribers, India has been adding nearly twice as
many subscribers EVERY month until March 2011. Mobile teledensity increased by almost
18.4 percentage points from Mar 2010 and Mar 2011 (49.60% to 67.98%) while wireline
subcriber numbers fell by a modest 2.2 million. This frenetic pace of monthly subscriber
additions means that the Indian mobile subscriber base has shown a year on year growth of
43.23%. According to recent reports, India was purported to overtake China to become the
world's largest mobile telecommunications market by the year 2013. It was also predicted that
by 2013, the teledensity will shoot up to 75% and the total mobile subscriber base would be a
colossal 1.159 billion.
Monthly Mobile Subscriber Additions
The following table illustrates the gradual increase in monthly mobile subscriber additions(in
millions) in India since January 2002.

Year

Jan

feb

Mar
ch

apr
il

ma
y

june Jul
y

aug sep
t

oct

no
v

dec

2002

0.2
8
0.6
4
1.5
8
1.7
6
4.6
9
6.8
1
8.7
7
15.
41
19.
90
18.
99
9.8
8

0.3
5
0.6

0.41

0.73

0.4
9
1.7
9
1.6
7
2.7
4
5.9

0.5
3
1.6
7
1.5
1
2.9

1.5
6
3.5
1
6.7
9
8.3
2
10.
35
17.
65
22.
88
2.9
7

1.95

1.6
7
4.2
8
6.2
1
8.5
3
13.
82
18.
76
20.
20
7.4
4

0.35 0.3
6
1.42 2.3
1
1.43 1.7
4
1.98 2.4
5
4.78 5.2
8
7.34 8.0
6
8.94 9.2
2
12.0 14.
4
38
17.9 16.
8
92
11.4 6.6
1
7

0.8

0.91

0.2
9
2.2
6
1.3
3
1.7
2
4.2
5
6.5
7
8.6
2
11.
58
16.
31
13.
35
8.3
5

0.7
2
1.9

1.6

0.2
8
0.6
4
1.3
7
1.4
6
3.8
8
6.1
1
8.2
1
11.
90
16.
9
15.
34
1.8
5

2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012

0.96

5.03
3.53
10.1
6
15.6
4
20.5
9
20.2
1
8.00

8.3
1
9.1
6
15.
08
18.
18
7.3
4

0.3
7
1.6
1
1.8
4
2.4
8
6.0
7
7.7
9
10.
07
14.
98
17.
1
7.9
0

6.7
1
8.0
5
10.
42
16.
67
18.
98
7.7
9

TELEPHONE STATISTICS
Telephone Subscribers (Wireless and Landline): 960.9 million (May 2012)
Land Lines: 31.53 million (May 2012)
Cell phones: 929.37 million (May 2012)
Monthly Cell phone Addition: 8.35 million (May 2012)
Teledensity: 79.28% (May 2012)
Annual Cell phone Addition: 227.27 million (March 2010 - 2011)
Projected Teledensity: 1.159 billion, 97% of population by 2013.

1.69

4.46
6.48
8.17
10.8
1
19.1
0
22.6
2
9.47

Ann
ual
addit
ions
(in
milli
on)
5.23

Averag
e
monthl
y
additio
ns (in
million)
0.44

17.4
9
19.4
9
27.8
6
64.1
4
85.2
7
113.
26
178.
25
227.
12
148.
32

1.46
1.62
2.32
5.35
7.11
9.44
14.85
18.93
11.80

Telephone System: The telecommunications system in India is the 2nd largest in the world.
The country is divided into several zones, called circles (roughly along state boundaries).
Government and several private operators run local and long distance telephone services. It
was thrown open to private operators in the 1990s. Competition has caused prices to drop and
calls across India are one of the cheapest in the world. The rates are supposed to go down
further with new measures to be taken by the Information Ministry.
Landlines: In India landline service is firstly run by BSNL/MTNL and after there are several
other private players too, such as Airtel, Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices and Touchtel.
Landlines are facing stiff competition from mobile telephones. The competition has forced
the landline services to become more efficient. The landline network quality has improved
and landline connections are now usually available on demand, even in high density urban
areas.
Mobile Cellular: The mobile telephone network has aggrandized greatly since 2000. The
number of mobile phone connections crossed fixed-line connections in Sept 2004 and
currently there are an estimated 929.37 million mobile phone users in India [1] compared to
31.53 million fixed line subscribers.[1] India primarily follows the GSM mobile system, in
the 900 MHz band. Recent operators also operate in the 1800 MHz band. The dominant
players are Aircel, Vodafone, Airtel, Tata Indicom, Tata Teleservices, MTS, Uninor, Reliance
Infocomm, Idea Cellular and BSNL/MTNL. There are many smaller players, with operations
in only a few states. International roaming agreements exist between most operators and
many foreign carriers.
Dialing System: On landlines system, intra circle calls are considered local calls while inter
circle are considered long distance calls. Government is now working to integrate the whole
country in one telecom circle. For long distance calls, you dial the area code prefixed with a
zero (e.g. for Delhi, you would dial 011-XXXX XXXX). For international calls, you would
dial "00" or + and the country code+area code+number. The country code for India is 91.
Call Rates Cutting Blows: The rates of Communication in India were one of the highest in
the world, till a few years back. The rates could not be justified by the fact that rupee is
cheaper. In fact the Indian sub continent had shown a calm tolerance towards the high rate in
even in telecom. The rates were also justified as the government has to feel the high cost
involved in the one-time developments like satellite and telephone tower related charges. But
now owing to better technologies the telecom rates in India are on the verge of becoming
cheaper.
Internet Users: Number of Internet users in India is the 3rd largest in the world next only to
China and the United States of America. Though the number of internet users is high, internet
penetration is still much lower than most countries across the globe. It must also be noted that
40% of all internet users in India are connected to the net only via their mobile phones.
Broadband Subscribers: Broadband in India is defined as 256kbit/s and above by the
government regulator. Total subscribers were 14.31 million (May 2012).

BROADCASTING STATISTICS IN INDIA

Radios: 116 million (1997)
Radio broadcast stations: 153- AM (Amplitude Modulation), 91- FM (Frequency
Modulation), 68 (1998) - Shortwave
Televisions: 116,490,000
In India, only the government owned Doordarshan (Door = Distant = Tele, Darshan ==
Vision) is allowed to broadcast terrestrial television signals. It initially had one major
National channel (also known as DD1) and a Metro channel in some of the larger cities (also
known as DD2). Satellite/Cable television took off during the first Gulf War with CNN.
There are no regulations against ownership of satellite dish antennas, or operation of cable
television systems, which led to an explosion of viewer ship and channels, led by the Star TV
group and Zee TV.
Initially restricted to music and entertainment channels, viewer ship grew, giving rise to
several channels in regional languages and many in the national language, Hindi. The main
news channels available were CNN and BBC World. In the late 1990s, many current affairs
and news channels sprouted, becoming immensely popular because of the alternative
viewpoint they offered compared to Doordarshan. Some of the notable ones are Aaj Tak that
means Till Today, owned by the India Today group and Star News, initially run by the NDTV
group and their charismatic lead anchor, Prannoy Roy (NDTV now has its own channels,
NDTV 24x7, NDTV Profit and NDTV India). Also Sahara (like Sahara Rastriya & some
regional channel),Sun network,E nadu India TV & IBN 7(the TV 18 group) are some most
popular channel.

INTERNET STATS:
India has been identified as the fastest growing online market with a 41% rise. This is much
higher than China (5%), Brazil(6%) and Russia (20%). With most online categories in Indian
exhibiting an average reach below the global figures, the potential seems to be high. Indias
audience is getting younger. ComScore has found 75% of the internet audience in India to be
aged 35 years and below, promising to make it the youngest online population in the coming
years. In the webcast, Kedar emphasized that the audience is only going to get younger in the
future. Females formed 39.3% of the total audience, and the sharpest growth was observed
among male and female segments in the age-group 15 to 24.
The Top Ten Sites

Over the survey period, Google and Facebook topped the growth charts, at 59.7 and 52.1
million users respectively.
An interesting point to note is that the data shows a rise of over 10 to 40% in the frequency
of user visits for the top ten sites.

Rise in News Consumption

The news category appears to be one of the most engaged, with up to 5 minutes spent on it by
each unique visitor.

A growth of 54% has been noted in this category, with multiple means of accessing the news,
including mobile devices. This is lesser than the global average of 80% but is catching up.
Yahoo-ABC News Network leads from the front with a July 2012 reach of 20.4%, followed
closely by The Times Of India at 18.7%. Other key players include New York Times Digital
(11.3), HT Media Limited (11.1%), oneindia (9.6%), India Today Group (8.5%), IBN Live
(7.9%) and NDTV (7%).

NRI Visits to Local Website

Another interesting set of data revolves around the non-resident Indian (NRI) unique visitors
to some of the leading Indian websites.
These are the key sites that NRIs visit, along with the percentage of the total unique visitors
that they make up:
1.NDTV (35%)
2.IBNLive (22%)
3.The Times of India (36%)
4.Manorama (53%)
5.Rediff (17%)
6.In.com (32%)
7.Cricbuzz (55%)
8.ICICI Bank (12%)
comScore also concludes that the regional newspapers have the highest share of non-resident
audiences and are the best way to connect with them.

The Online Retail Boom

As many as 3 in 5 internet users in India visit retail sites, which have registered a growth of
43% over the last year. The statistics indicate a close contest between Snapdeal and Flipkart
in horizontal retail, and Jabong and Myntra in the lifestyle category, all of them fueled by
aggressive marketing and growing demand.
July saw a total of 37.5 million unique visitors from India coming to retail sites, with the
apparel sub-category being the fastest growing sub-category at a year-on-year growth of
362%. Consumer goods, sports equipment and home furnishing have shown promising signs
of growth as well. Vertical retail segments are expected to grow the fastest in the coming
months.

Growth in the Travel Segment

Indias online reach in the travel segment has crossed the worldwide averages, according to
the ComScore statistics. Indian Railways tops the charts with a 19.2% reach in July 2012,
followed by MakeMyTrip at 11.6% and Yatra Online at 8.3%
With a rise in people using private buses, redbus.in shows a reach of 2% during July.

e-Commerce Transactions in India

Direct debit or Netbanking is the most popular payment method as per figures from the
second quarter of 2012, with a 58% share. Visa and MasterCard follow at 21% and 12%
respectively.IRCTC averages at $17 (INR 935) per transaction, while Flipkart indicates $35
(INR 1925) per transaction.

Facebook and its Continued Dominance

In the social networking space, Facebook has risen 47% in terms of unique visitors between
the twelve-month survey period. Around 52 million users are indicated to have signed up.
LinkedIns unique visitor count has risen 36%, a reflection of the decent show put up by the
job market.
Orkut, which once used to be widely popular, has had its unique visitor count plunge by 69%
an indication of little attention from its parent company Google. Twitter use in India
continues to be low, and the number of unique visits has risen just 5% to 3.8 million in July
2012.

The Rise of Entertainment

The unique visitor count for entertainment sites is indicated to have touched nearly 56 million
in July 2012, up from nearly 41 million a year before. YouTube is a runaway leader in this
category, with a reach of 53.7% at the end of July 2012. They are followed by CBS
Interactive (14.8%) and Songs.pk (8.8%).In spite of a fairly high reach of 89% in India, the
entertainment category is still behind the worldwide figure of 94.1%.

Mixed Growth Witnessed in Other Categories

Business and finance has grown at 35%, with SBI being the most popular bank. ICICI Bank
follows at the second position, and HDFC at the third.
Real estate has grown 38%, career services have grown 30% and the automotive category
has shown a growth of 18%.

Online Video
This category has shown a growth of over 37.3% and the engagement figure is indicated to be
3.4 billion videos each month. 52% of all the videos belong to the entertainment category,
and the soaring viewership in the video category has resulted in a corresponding boom in
video advertising.

Growth in Mobile Engagement

Over the last year, the number of pages viewed on mobile devices has grown from 3% in July
2011 to 7% in July 2012. Information covering food and travel, and online trading are the
most popular subjects among tablet users. As for the operating systems used in tablets, iOS
controls 80% of that market share.