During a global economic crisis many industries are suffering with low sells and decreasing growth. Yet the mobile phone industry in India has grown to a record 11 million subscribers this year.
Economists say that India’s economic growth and stock market for this year are slowing down. But cellphone companies like Idea Cellular Ltd. are aggressively meeting the demands of rural Indians who on the average use their phones 8.5 hours a month, increasing 10% from last year. The increase of subscribers is making India the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world and there are little signs of it slowing down.
In rural villages, farmers use cell phones to find the latest market price on products like coconuts, rice, jasmine and buffalo milk just from a dial on the phone rather than catching a bus 50 miles into town. With cell phone towers available in the village, farmers can save time and energy while working in the fields.
The rapid demand for cellphones are from people who typically earn less than $1,000 a year. Many are part of the landless Indian population who are not affected by the declining city real estate prices or falling stocks. Since majority of them have little access to regular landline networks each time a wireless tower comes into the village a farmer buys their first cell phone for convenience as well as an investment.
India has a national penetration rate of less than 30%, proving there is still room for an untapped market in a country of over 1 billion people. In comparison to the U.S. where more than 80% of the population have mobile phones India is continuing to discover its digital communication networks in places where email and text messaging is nearly existing.
Will the farmers have a reverse affect on market prices once they are equipped with more mobile phones to help them become more efficient entrepreneurs?
No comments:
Post a Comment