The Hindu : Business : Reliance Infocomm's lead in mobile market

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 16, 2004

Business

Business

Reliance Infocomm's lead in mobile market

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, MAY 15. Reliance Infocomm Ltd. claims it has become the leader in the mobility market with a subscriber base of 7.5 million in April.

The customer base of mobile market is in the vicinity of 34.84 million, up from 14.5 million in May 2003. Out of which, the GSM customer base is 27.15 million and CDMA 7.69 million.

V. G. Somasekhar, Head of Reliance India Mobile Business (Tamil Nadu and Kerala), said the arrival of Reliance on the mobility scene last year had seen a substantial churning in the industry and resulted in a growth of 140 per cent in the customer base. One year into commercial operation, Reliance had already garnered a market share of 22 per cent, he claimed.

In a freewheeling interaction with this correspondent, Mr. Somasekhar said the growth in the customer base had not really translated into corresponding growth in revenue for the industry. Factors such as low tariff, higher number of low users and stepped up investment in market penetration had all restricted the revenue growth to a fourth of the growth in customer base, he said. ``The pay back period is getting longer and longer,'' he pointed out.

The coming years would see the focus shifting to network coverage, quality and reliability. Service would be the key differentiator among industry players, Mr. Somasekhar pointed out.

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