India has Almost 500 mln Mobile Users

The ever swelling number of wireless connections in India will cross the 500 million mark sometime this later this (or by early next year) month, as The Times of India reports. With the country inching towards crossing the 500 million mark once an unthinkable number, India has reaffirmed its place as the country with the second largest number of mobile phone users in the world, right behind China.

Note that the figure of 500 million is for the number of mobile subscribers only. The overall number of connections (including that of fixed line) has already crossed a staggering 550 million in the country. The teledensity in the country has reached a very respectable 45 percent. In urban centres, it is almost 97 percent. The rural teledensity is still low at just 18 percent. India was at 488.40 million (wireless) subscribers at the end of October 2009 and the current projections are calculated guesses taking into account the rate of growth observed for the past few months.

While it's a rosy picture on the wireless front, the wireline sector is facing a continuous drop in the number of users. It is down to 37.25 million now. India's broadband penetration too stands embarrassingly low with just 7.5 million people having access to broadband Internet! Bandwidth IS a major issue in India, it seems! It is remarkable that India continuous to grow at amazing rates even though the telephony sector has been in a mess for the past few years owing to licensing, spectrum allotment and all other controversies.