The Hindu : Cellular subscription slows down in April

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 15, 2002

Business

Business

Cellular subscription slows down in April

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 14. Even as the growth in cellular connections appears to be slowing down in April, private sector operators have registered strides with the public sector enterprise MTNL putting up a shockingly poor show by claiming an insignificant share of the number of new subscribers.

In Delhi, the two private companies booked 54,000 new subscribers in April against a dismal 1,000 by MTNL. The same story was repeated in Mumbai. Here, the two private companies with a total of 48,000 new connections left MTNL in humiliation with just 2,000 additional subscribers. Many see a pattern in way the things are moving.

The country-wide addition in cellular subscribers in April was 2.8 lakhs which was 26 per cent less than the figure for the previous month. There was a fall in monthly additions barring exceptions like `C' category circles and Kolkata metro, according to the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI).

In Chennai, the growth remained largely static — Bharti added just under 3,000 subscribers and RPG Cellular slightly under 5,000. Kolkata saw a slight upswing in contrast — Bharti adding 8,000 new connections, Usha Martin 10,000 and the fledgling BSNL about 600. In all, 1.32 lakh people joined the cellular fraternity in the four metros.

Depressed growth rates were witnessed in the A category circles also indicating the need for fresh marketing initiatives to tap those who have remained out of the cellular fold.

The addition was just 54,000 in the five `A' category States of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In Maharashtra, the base of BPL remained static while that of `Idea' (the Tata-led consortium) grew by 11,000; Fascel grew by 10,000 in Gujarat and Idea by 4,000. In Andhra Pradesh, both operators expanded their base marginally while most of the expansion was cornered by Spice in Karnataka. The Tamil Nadu circle was also a disappointment for the private operators.

In the `B' category circles, the subscriber base increased by 86,000 with Punjab cornering nearly half the increase.

There was virtually no growth in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (East) and Rajasthan. The other three States in this category — Kerala, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh — reported growth in four figures.

In the C category circles, the cumulative increase in subscriber base was 12,000 with Himachal Pradesh accounting for the bulk of the increase.

In Bihar, new entrant, the State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam now has 11,830 subscribers which appears to be an accomplishment of sorts keeping in view the poor show by its supposedly suave counterpart, MTNL.

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