Indians Talk More On Mobile But Pay Less Compared To Chinese

Business Standard: It’s something we all know that Indian mobile tariffs are one of the lowest in the world…and we still think there is enough scope to bring that down. Anyways, a study by Indian telecom regulator, TRAI, comparing both Indian and Chinese markets says that Indians talk more on mobile and pay less in comparison to Chinese. In 2004, Indian mobile phone customers used their phones for an average of 330 minutes a month, compared with 297 minutes by Chinese mobile phone users.
The usage patterns of both pre- and post-paid customers in India were higher than that of their Chinese counterparts, the study said. The ARPU (average revenue per user) for Indian cellular operators was $9.04 in 2004, while Chinese telecom companies generated $9.69 per user a month, the study said. For landlines, the study said that India’s ARPU of $15 was higher, against $9.14 for China. The competition in the landline segment in China is more intense than it is in India. According to Trai, there is a stark contrast in the subscriber bases of the two countries. China had 325.40 million landlines and 349.10 million mobile phone users, compared with 45.01 million and 52.21 million, respectively, in India. (it’s an old number, the current Indian subscriber-base is 55.8 million).
The reason for lower tairffs is that “China has limited competition, but the Indian mobile market is fiercely competitive. The operating expenditures (Opex) for basic and mobile services are higher for Indian companies,

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