New Delhi: One in every five Indians will own a mobile phone by the end of the year and about three-quarters of India's population would be covered by mobile network by the end of 2008, a study by the Centre for Knowledge Societies has revealed.
According to a study, about six million new mobile subscriptions are added each month and one in five Indians would own a phone by the end of 2007. By 2008 end, three quarter of India's population will be covered by mobile network, the report said.
Mobility could be used to bridge the growing economic and social digital divide between rural and urban areas, it said. The study has identified seven major service sectors, including transport, finance and healthcare that could be radically transformed through mobile technologies.
While mobile phones are widely seen merely as a communication medium, they should really be seen as a new and essential form of infrastructure that will transform a host of other service sectors in rural economies around the world, it said.
The research is based on detailed ethnography and participant observation among communities living in three rural areas in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka including Bangalore.
It also suggested that the local and state governments should integrate their telecom regulatory, tax and rural development policies and incentivise the roll out of mobile services across the country.
Comments
0 comment