India now has 500 million mobile phone connections

Brace yourself people. By the start of 2010, India would have around 500 Million (50 Crore) Mobile Phone connections, second only to China in total numbers.

Overall Telephone connections in India is currently pegged at around 550 Million connections, but considering that fact that many people have dual connections in their name and not all of them are in use at the same time, the number of Mobile connections India has, has been pegged at around 488.40 million mobile connections at the end of October 2009 and hence will be breaching the half billion mark quite soon.

However the wired connections are now sliding down with currently just around 37.25 million phones, showcasing the fact that the consumers are now preferring the wireless connections for all their data and voice communication purposes.

India’s broadband penetration, is even more pathetic at 7.5 million with no signs of 3G services in the country as yet, Chennai being an exception.

Also, India now has around 13 to 14 mobile phones operators in 22 service areas with many newcomers like Tata Docomo, Aircel, MTS Mobile, Uninor etc joining the market this year. Of these, around 8 to 9 operators are currently operational with another 5 – 6 operators rolling out soon.