When the over enthusiastic Minister for IT and Communications Dayanidhi Maran talked of 250 million phones by 2007, most of us felt he was rather unrealistic. It is interesting to note that India crossed this mark in early October 2007 months ahead of the target date of Dec 31, 2007 (it is an irony that the Minister is no longer in his seat!)
As per Press Release 91/2007 dated October 22, 2007 of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) mobile phone base as of end September was 248.7 million with 209.1 million wireless and 39.6 million land-line phones (7.6 million mobile phones were added in September 2007, while land-lines went down by 0.16 million in the same month).
It will be interesting to see mobile phones touching 250 million by March 2008; the change of guard at Telecom ministry caused delay in BSNL order; hope the setback does not slow down the growth of Telecom in India, probably the only place “aam admi” (common man) has REALLY BENEFITED though the government of the day swears by “aam admi” every day
