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India: Mobile Landscape
For 4 years, the Telecoms industry in India has shown tremendous growth with an average growth rate of 64.51%. In 2004 the subscribers numbered 47.38 million, mainly high income users. By the end of 2007, mobile phones have become accessible even to the low income users and the number has increased to 341.31 million by the end of 2008, indicating the penetration of 29.76%. The fact that an average of between 8 and 10 million mobile subscribers were added every month provides opportunities for marketing players.
| Contents |
| #1 Mobile Statistics |
| #2 Top 5 Indian Telecommunication Industries |
| #3 Technology: GSM vs CDMA |
| #4 SMS as Marketing Tool 4.1 SMS Usage Statistics 4.2 Marketing Opportunity |
| #5 Mobile Social Networking |
| #6 Future Indian Mobile |
| #1 Mobile Statistics |
As of March 2009, Telecoms Regulatory Authority in India (TRAI) announced the Indian Mobile subscriber base:
Figure 1-1: Indian Wireless Subscriber base
| Wireless Subscribers | |
| Total Wireless Subscribers | 391.76 Million |
| % growth during Quarter | 12.93% |
| Urban Subscribers | 282.05 Million (72%) |
| Rural Subscribers | 109.71 Million (28%) |
| GSM Subscribers | 297.26 Million (75.88%) |
| CDMA Subscriber | 94.50 Million (24.12%) |
Figure 1-2: Growth Trends of Wireless Subscriber
The Mobile subscribers have reached 391.76 million as on 31st March 2009 as against 346.89 million subscribers in the previous quarter. During this quarter 44.87 million wireless subscribers were added.
| #2 Top 5 Indian Telecommunication Industries |
| Bharti Airtel | Reliance Communications | Vodafone | BSNL | Idea Cellular | |
| Logo |  |  |  |  |  |
| Subscriber | 97 million | 74 million | 69 million | 47 million | 44 million |
| Founded | 1985 | 2004 | 1994 | 2000 | 1995 |
| Headquarter | New Delhi | Mumbai | Mumbai | New Delhi | Indore, Delhi, Pune |
| Technology | GSM, Edge | CDMA-One, GSM | GSM, Edge | GSM, GPRS, Edge, HSDPA | GSM, GPRS, Edge |
| #3 Technology GSM vs CDMA |
Figure 3-1: Market Share: GSM vs CDMA
There were 297.26 million GSM Mobile subscribers (75.88%) compared to 94.50 million CDMA subscribers (24.12%) at the end of March 2009.
Figure 3-2: GSM Subscriber Growth
The GSM Mobile subscriber base reached 297.26 million in the quarter ending March 2009 as against 258.23 million at the end of the previous quarter.
Figure 3-3: CDMA Subscriber Growth
The CDMA Mobile subscriber base reached 94.50 million in the quarter ending March 2009 as against 88.66 million at the end of the previous quarter.
| #4 SMS as Marketing Tool |
| 4.1 SMS Usage Statistics |
Majority of Indian population, especially younger crowd, uses SMS more than calling. Even professionals use it for myriad of reasons, including checking bank balances, mobile bills, and status of train/flight etc. Recent TRAI data shows an average Indian sends 29 SMS per month. Just multiply that with number of ever growing Mobile subscribers in India and you will have an idea of amount of SMS traffic India generates!
Figure 4.1-1: Gender wise SMS usage
| SMS VAS Services | Male | Female | Male – Index | Female – Index |
| News | 60.7% | 39.3% | 117 | 82 |
| Sport | 63.4% | 36.6% | 122 | 76 |
| Astrology | 49.7% | 50.3% | 95 | 105 |
| Jokes | 52.4% | 47.6% | 101 | 99 |
| Stocks/Finance/Business | 63.0% | 37.0% | 121 | 77 |
| Health Tips | 54.5% | 45.5% | 105 | 95 |
| Chat | 57.8% | 42.2% | 111 | 88 |
| Movies | 53.3% | 46.7% | 102 | 97 |
| Jobs | 52.8% | 47.2% | 101 | 99 |
| Spiritual | 47.9% | 52.1% | 92 | 109 |
| Love Tips/Quote | 61.9% | 38.1% | 119 | 80 |
Males are generally more active users of SMS VAS services. While males are more interested in getting sports updates (63%) females are interested in spiritual (52.1%) and astrology (50.3%)quotes.
Figure 4.1-2: Age wise SMS usage
Jokes are popular amongst people between 18 to 44 years of age. Astrology is more popular in 45 years to 54 years age group while 56.7% of people with age 55 years. and more subscribe to stocks, finance, & business. Close to half of all people aged 55 years and above also subscribe to jobs: conventional wisdom suggests that by that age, people are pretty satisfied with what they are doing and may not look for new opportunities – but figures suggest otherwise.
Figure 4.1-3: Popular Value Added Services (VAS)
Unlimited Internet Access & better offers on SMS bundles are the two VAS options that Indian urban mobile phone users look at while deciding on a service.
Figure 4.1-2: Age wise SMS usage
| SMS Services | 18 to 24 Years | 25 to 34 Years | 35 to 44 Years | 45 to 54 Years | 55 Years or More |
| News alerts | 44.7% | 35.8% | 50.2% | 51.9% | 46.1% |
| Sport | 43.2% | 41.7% | 38.2% | 42.7% | 46.4% |
| Astrology | 42.9% | 42.3% | 49.4% | 62.4% | 55.2% |
| Jokes | 56.2% | 52.8% | 62.7% | 43.1% | 33.2% |
| Stocks/Finance/Business | 29.0% | 35.1% | 43.1% | 32.7% | 56.7% |
| Health Tips | 32.5% | 32.8% | 36.4% | 31.9% | 33.9% |
| Chat | 31.3% | 28.6% | 21.6% | 24.2% | 2.4% |
| Movies | 31.3% | 25.4% | 13.6% | 10.8% | 3.7% |
| Jobs | 46.2% | 43.3% | 34.4% | 41.0% | 49.7% |
| Spiritual | 21.6% | 24.9% | 18.1% | 25.5% | 26.8% |
| Love Tips/Quote | 36.3% | 32.3% | 18.3% | 28.3% | 0.5% |
| TV Guide | 16.6% | 15.5% | 22.8% | 23.8% | 29.5% |
Figure 4.1-3: Popular Value Added Services (VAS)
| Subscriber to VAS Options | Likely | Unlikely |
| Unlimited internet access (GPRS) usage on phone for a low fixed monthly price | 41.5% | 14.6% |
| Better bundle offers on SMS value added services | 39.1% | 14.8% |
| Unlimited song downloads for a fixed monthly price | 37.3% | 18.7% |
| Watching video when phone rings (video tones) | 33.8% | 23.9% |
| Get credit for usage towards value added services depending on monthly bill/cash card value | 33.7% | 16.9% |
| Offer subsidized GPRS enabled handsets | 31.8% | 17.7% |
| Listening to music in the background while talking on the phone | 31.6% | 26.0% |
| Access any/all SMS VAS services for one fixed price | 29.6% | 20.0% |
| Bundle any two SMS VAS services for Rs.30 | 28.2% | 22.4% |
| 4.2 Marketing Opportunity |
Figure 4.2-1: Action taken after receiving SMS
SMS is increasingly being viewed by India Inc. as a source of getting in touch with their customers. The intensity of using SMS for marketing/promotions is quite high with almost 75% of urban Indians receiving a minimum of 4 such SMS. 1 in 3 (approx. 32%) of Urban Indians who receive a marketing/promotional SMS took some action, while 2 out 3 deleted or ignore the message completely. Calling up to enquire (if number available) followed byforwarding message to others are the two most commonly cited actions taken on receipt of marketing/promotional SMS. 11% also indicated they made a purchase on the basis of information.
Figure 4.2-2: Action taken after receiving SMS: Male vs Female
Figure 4.2-3: Action taken after receiving SMS: Age Wise
SMS marketing is most effective to people aged between 35 to 44 years old as more than 33.5% of them made a purchase of product or service based on the SMS marketing!
Figure 4.2-4: Mobile Subscribers in SMS Contests
Almost 60% of Females have participated in 1 to 3 SMS contests and though this is higher than their male counterparts. However, in frequency of participation, males outshine females. The source of these SMS contests came from reality TVs, song and dance shows.
| #5 Mobile Social Networking |
Majority of Indian population, especially younger crowd, uses SMS more than calling. Even professionals use it for myriad of reasons, including checking bank balances, mobile bills, and status of train/flight etc.
Figure 5-1: Social Networking Site users (via Mobile Phone)
Nearly 10% Mobile subscribers use Social Networking services on their mobile phones are from Delhi, followed by Mumbai & Chennai.Figure 5-2: Favourite Social networking site
(via Mobile Phone)Orkut accounts 11.4% of Indian mobile users in choosing social networking site. Facebook comes in second, followed by few local websites.
| #6 Future Indian Mobile |
It is forecast that the number of subscribers could reach as high as 868.47 million reaching at 69.35% penetration by 2013.
Source:
- Indian Mobile Market Dynamics and Forecast (2008-2013). ROA Group, Research Report, No. 090801. Retrieved October 13, 2009, from http://global.researchonasia.com/roa/userfiles/reportfiles/Indiasummary.pdf.
- Prabhudesai, A. (n.d.). Full Report: SMS in India – how, what & why. Retrieved October 15, 2009, from Trak.in website: http://trak.in/tags/business/2009/07/07/full-report-sms-vas-usage-india/.
- Prabhudesai, A. (n.d.). India Telecom Report: Wireless Subscribers. Retrieved October 15, 2009, from Trak.in website: http://trak.in/tags/business/2009/07/15/india-telecom-report-wireless-subscribers/.
- Prabhudesai, A. (n.d.). How & What Mobile Phone Services does India use - Report. Retrieved October 20, 2009, from Trak.in website: http://trak.in/tags/business/2009/06/23/report-onhow-what-indian-mobile-phone-services-vas/.
-Schechtman, Y. (2009, June). IMA Market Report: India’s Telecommunications Market. Retrieved October 16, 2009, from http://www.imaworld.org/_Uploads/dbsAttachedFiles/IMA_India_Report-June09.pdf
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Latest page update: made by ShandyAlidjaja
, Nov 12 2009, 10:15 AM EST
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