September 26, 2007
Poorer workers ring in India's mobile phone revolution
India's legion of self-employed, which comprises half the workforce, has benefited the most from India's mobile phone market, the world's fastest growing.
"Maids, cooks, autorickshaw drivers and construction workers have bought mobile phones even on incomes as low as 100 dollars per month.
"It's no longer a status symbol. It is increasingly becoming a necessity like water and electricity," Arvind Singhal, the chairman of retail consulting firm KSA Technopak said.
Now when a carpenter sticks up advertisements at a local grocery to find business "he has a mobile office" where people can call him, he said.
Despite the surge in mobile users, the growth is still largely confined to cities. A huge market in rural areas, where nearly 70 percent of India's 1.1 billion population lives, remains untapped.
Telephone penetration in urban India is around 25 per 100 people but just 1.6 per 100 in rural areas.
The country's total "teledensity" -- the number of people owning a telephone out of every 100 people -- also remains low at 21.20 percent in August, according to official data.
But mobile phone companies are rolling out coverage to rural and remote areas to increase their clients.
"Landline networks are not very effective in many of these places. So, mobile phones are a big necessity in rural areas," Singhal said. "It's not an indicator of wealth any more. A mobile phone is now a tool that is likely to improve productivity dramatically."
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