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Record Result in Q4 for India - but Q1 09 Looks Set to Beat It
India is the world's second largest mobile market behind China and it has seen extraordinary levels of growth in recent quarters. The first three quarters of 2008 all saw net additions in excess of 25m, and Q4 08 went one better with a gain of 31.58m, an all-time Indian and world record. The number of connections in India stood at 346.77m at the end of 2008 with annual growth of 48.5%, compared to 60.8% in 2007.
Market leader Bharti continued to pull its weight with a Q4 gain of 8.17m, the second highest figure ever recorded in the Indian market. With 85.65m customers and 24.7% market share, Bharti is the powerhouse of Indian mobile. However, the strength in depth of the market is extraordinary. The second- and third-placed operators, Reliance (61.35m customers end-2008) and Vodafone (60.93m), both scored their best ever figures for net additions in Q4 with figures of 5.30m for Reliance and 6.31m for Vodafone. Moreover, the previous records for both companies were set just three months earlier.
Aircel, the seventh largest operator with 16.08m customers end-2008, achieved the same feat, recording its best ever figure in Q4 08 (+2.20m) and its second best ever in Q3 08 (+1.95m). Meanwhile, fifth-placed IDEA (34.21m) also recorded an all-time high in Q4 08 with a gain of 3.83m. Although March figures are not yet complete, the January and February numbers suggest that Q1 09 is almost certain to break the record for quarterly growth. The January gain of 15.37m smashed the previous record of 10.76m (set in December 2008) while February was not far behind with 13.77m. With a two-month gain of 29.17m, and March GSM additions at over 11m, a figure in the region of 45m seems likely.
January's record was inspired chiefly by Reliance, which added 4.95m customers thanks to its launch of GSM in several new markets, and it topped the market again in February with a gain of 3.29m. Bharti posted a new record of 2.73m, maintaining its extraordinary consistency, while Vodafone and Tata also recorded new highs of 2.58m and 1.08m respectively.
Posted to the site on 20th April 2009
This article was extracted from The Mobile World Briefing, the weekly newsletter from The Mobile World.
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