India hits 1 billion mobile phone users

The Indian phone market made a 0.7 percent increase from September to October, vaulting the nation over the 1 billion user threshold to 1.03 billion users. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India just released this information yesterday, making India the second country in the world to reach this milestone.

Anyone care to take a guess at what that first country was? Anyone? Anyone?

India’s population, which triples that of the United States, has created a ravenous market for the mobile phone industry. Whereas the US really only has four major carriers, a proportional twelve battle over subscribers and contract holders in India. This fierce competition combines with other factors to make India’s phone bills some of the least expensive in the world. It’s no surprise that phone manufacturers and service providers in every time zone are turning an interested eye to this phone-hungry nation.

While the figures above apply to all mobile phones, India has seen major growth in smartphones as well. Although the US remains a major market for flagship and high-end devices, mid-range and entry-level manufacturers are having far more success in the continent of Asia. As for mobile phones in general, it’s interesting to note that India has had more phone users than the US since – are you ready for this? – 2008. In the ~8 years between then and now, US phone usage has increased only by about 100 million users. In the same time frame, India has seen a number of new mobile subscribers that surpasses the total population of the United States. Almost times two.

So for all you Westerners thinking your market is the center of the mobile world… You might want to reconsider your worldview.

What are your thoughts regarding India’s explosive growth in cellular phone adoption? Let us know in the comments below!

(Oh, and it was China, obviously. China hit a billion users all the way back in 2012. Didn’t want to leave you hanging.)

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