Delhi adds 1 cr mobile phone connections

Delhiites love to remain connected with their family and friends wherever they go. And it shows. In the past one year, Delhi added a whopping 1.05 crore more mobile connections, taking the total number of connections registered in name of Delhiites to 3.88 crore.

Delhiites love to remain connected with their family and friends wherever they go. And it shows. In the past one year, Delhi added a whopping 1.05 crore more mobile connections, taking the total number of connections registered in name of Delhiites to 3.88 crore.

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On an average, 28,827 new connections were sold in Delhi every day between April 1 2010 and March 31, 2011. Although one-third of these connections are said to be not in use, Delhiites still boast of 2.58 crore mobile connections. With Delhi population estimated to be at 1.67 crore in the 2011 Census and assuming that almost one-third of it — which is below 14 years of age — is unlikely to have their own mobile phones, 2.31 mobile connection are registered in the name of each Delhiite.

In 2009-2010, 64 lakh new mobile phone connections were added to Delhi’s network, while the number stood at just 57 lakh in 2008-2009. Delhi government officials agreed that the increase of mobile connections by more than one crore in just one year is indeed phenomenal.

Though the number of landline phones also went up from 27.10 lakh in 2009-2010 to 28.38 lakh in 2010-2011, the increase has only been marginal in comparison to mobile phones. “Not just businessmen or senior executives, there are students as well who now carry two phones. With many trendy phones available in the market and decrease in call rates — especially between two phones of same service provider — the usage of mobile phone will only increase now,” said a senior Delhi government official.