Today, it is the fastest growing market in the world. The telecommunication sector continues to register significant success and has emerged as one of the key sectors responsible for India's resurgent India's economic growth.
India's teledensity has improved from under four per cent in March 2001 to around 73.97 per cent in 2011.
Cellular telephony has emerged as the fastest growing segment in the Indian telecom industry.
The mobile subscriber base (GSM and CDMA combined) has grown from under two million at the end of FY00 to touch 851 million in 2011.
The fixed line segment has actually seen a decline in the subscriber base. It has declined to 36.96 million subscribers in March 2010 from 37.96 million in March 2009.
As far as broadband connections are concerned, India currently has a subscriber base of more than 12 million.
It has grown at an average annual growth rate of 40 per cent since 2008.
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Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
Pre-1902 - Cable telegraph.
1902 - First wireless telegraph station established between Sagar Islands and Sandheads.
1907 - First Central Battery of telephones introduced in Kanpur.
1913-1914 - First Automatic Exchange installed in Shimla.
1927 - Radio-telegraph system between the United Kingdom and India, with Imperial Wireless Chain beam stations at Khadki and Daund.
1933 - Radiotelephone system inaugurated between the UK and India.
1953 - 12 channel carrier system introduced.
1960 - First subscriber trunk dialing route commissioned between Lucknow and Kanpur.
1975 - First PCM system commissioned between Mumbai City and Andheri telephone exchanges.
1976 - First digital microwave junction introduced.
1979 - First optical fibre system for local junction commissioned at Pune.
1980 - First satellite earth station for domestic communications established at Sikandarabad, U.P.
1983 - First analog Stored Programme Control exchange for trunk lines commissioned at Mumbai.
1984 - C-DOT established for indigenous development and production of digital exchanges.
1995 - First mobile telephone service started on non-commercial basis on August 15.
1995 - Internet Introduced in India starting with Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Pune on August 15.
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Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
Post independence, growth remained slow because the telephone was seen more as a status symbol rather than being an instrument of utility.
The number of telephones grew leisurely to 980,000 in 1971, 2.15 million in 1981 and 5.07 million in 1991, the year economic reforms were initiated in the country.
While certain measures were taken to boost the telecom industry from time to time, (for example introduction of the telex service in Mumbai in 1953 and commissioning of the first Subscriber trunk dialling route between Delhi and Kanpur and between Lucknow and Kanpur in 1960), the first waves of change were set going by Sam Pitroda in the eighties.
The real transformation in scenario came with the announcement of the National Telecom Policy in 1994.
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Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
Key facts
Telephone subscribers (wireless and landline): 885.99 million (June 2011).
Land lines: 34.29 million (June 2011).
Mobile phones: 851.70 million (June 2011).
Monthly mobile-phone addition: 11.41 million (June 2011).
Teledensity: 73.97 per cent (June 2011).
Projected Teledensity: One billion, 84 per cent of the population by 2012.
With a subscriber base of more than 851 million, the mobile telecommunications system in India is the second-largest in the world.
Click NEXT to see the top 11 states with highest numbers of mobile users...
Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
1. New Delhi
Subscriber base: 41,171,114
Population: 16,753,235
Mobile phones: 2,458 per 1,000 population
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Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
2. Punjab
Subscriber base: 30,147,893
Population: 27,704,236
Mobile phones: 1,088 per 1,000 population
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Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
3. Tamil Nadu
Subscriber base: 72,763,544
Population: 72,138,958
Mobile phones: 1,009 per 1,000 population
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Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
4. Kerala
Subscriber base: 32,757,390
Population: 33,387,677
Mobile phones: 981 per 1,000 population
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Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
5. Maharashtra
Subscriber base: 101,065,519
Population: 112,372,972
Mobile phones: 899 per 1,000 population
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Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
6. Karnataka
Subscriber base: 51,221,157
Population: 61,130,704
Mobile phones: 838 per 1,000 population
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Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
7. Gujarat
Subscriber base: 48,818,855
Population: 60,383,628
Mobile phones: 809 per 1,000 population
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Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
8. Andhra Pradesh
Subscriber base: 62,560,974
Population: 84,665,533
Mobile phones: 739 per 1,000 population
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Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
9. West Bengal
Subscriber base: 65,829,685
Population: 91,347,736
Mobile phones: 721 per 1000 population
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Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
10. Madhya Pradesh
Subscriber base: 48,134,232
Population: 72,597,565
Mobile phones: 663 per 1,000 population
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Mobiles per 1,000 in various Indian states
11. Rajasthan
Subscriber base: 44,473,945
Population: 68,621,012
Mobile phones: 648 per 1000 population
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