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Mobile telephone system
also called as cellular phone system was first introduced in
India in August, 1995. Since then it has come a long way to the
recent introduction of 3G and now 4G services in certain telecom
circles. India is divided into 22 telecom circles or zones.
These circles are marked geographically and mostly follow state
boundaries. The 22 circles are - Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar & Jharkhand, Delhi, Gujarat (including Daman & Diu), Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala(including
Lakshadweep), Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh,
Maharashtra & Goa, Mumbai, North East (includes Arunachal
Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, & Tripura),
Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu(including Chennai), Uttar
Pradesh(East), Uttar Pradesh(West) & Uttarakhand and lastly,
West Bengal(excluding Kolkata). Any subscriber from one circle
has to pay a premium (often called roaming charges) when he or
she uses the mobile telecom service in another circle from his
or her home circle. Mobile telecom operator companies can be
region/circle specific or provide services pan India. In case of
region specific operators also they have tie ups with other
operators in different circles to offer pan India roaming
services.
As of current in 2014-2015
fiscal year there are 11 mobile service operators in India - Aircel, Bharti Airtel, BSNL, idea cellular, MTNL, MTS India,
Reliance Communications, Tata DoCoMo, Uninor, Videocon, Virgin
Mobile India &Vodafone India. Of these operators some are pan
India like BSNL/MTNL, Airtel, Reliance etc.; while some regional
like – Uninor, Videocon, Virgin etc. Also some operators hold
license to offer 3G and 4G services along with 2G services while
others hold only 2G service licenses.
Calling rates have also
drastically reduced in last five years from an average of one
rupee per minute of call to that of close to thirty paisa per
minute of call now. Similarly for SMS and other valued added
services. Mobile services in India are offered in both pre-paid
and post-paid basis.
Mobile telephony in India
is offered using two technologies – CDMA and GSM. Both have
their own merits and de-merits and of late most of the operators
have shifted to GSM technology. To the end user any of the two
technologies used make little difference.
In 2004, for the first time
the number of mobile connections issued to subscribers passed
that of those issued as fixed line. The Mobile market since then
has been expanding at a very fast rate with dropping call rates
and device costs. The telecom story in India is currently going
through some interesting times with the recent 4G services
introduced starting with Kolkata. |
