Each one, own one - The new mantra

Swati Bharadwaj / TNN / Jul 19, 2004, 14:40 IST

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AHMEDABAD: The total number of telephones in Gujarat, which stood at around 15 lakh in 1998, is today at a staggering 60 lakhs -- the phenomenal four-fold growth coming mainly from CDMA and GSM mobile phones.

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">AHMEDABAD/VADODARA: Six years back, an average upper middle class family in Gujarat had one car, one mobike, one television, one refrigerator, one air-conditioner, one washing machine, one vacuum cleaner, one telephone one.... So, what has changed? You are right! The telephone.While other things have largely remained constant, an average family of four can now have upto six telephones: one land-line, one fixed-line phone for the internet, and one mobile phone for each individual. No wonder then that the total number of telephones in Gujarat, which stood at around 15 lakh in 1998, is today at a staggering 60 lakhs -- the phenomenal four-fold growth coming mainly from CDMA and GSM mobile phones. Till six years back, gynaecologist Dr Mukul Shah and family''s monthly telephone bill would not cross Rs 1,000 per month. Today, he shells out an average Rs 6,000 towards expenses of five telephones. Dr Shah and his wife Dipti, who is also a gynecologist, have one BSNL and one Tata phone at home and one mobile phone each. Their son, Soham, who is an IT engineer, also has a mobile phone. "Naturally, our family phone bill has jumped many fold. But then phones have become a necessity", says Dr Shah. The phones have become a major drain for the Dave household in Sola too. "Till 1998, we had just one BSNL phone and the bill would be around Rs 800. Now, we have five phones between four family members and the collective bill is nothing less than Rs 4,500 per month. But there is no alternative as you feel cut-off without phones", says Chirag Dave, an IT engineer. Jagrut Vyas, COO, Tata Teleservices Ltd, Gujarat, says "The number of users has seen a substantial increase and the trend is expected to continue with more families having multiple means to communicate," he added. Each one, own one. That seems to be the motto these days. "The mobile phone is increasingly becoming a personalised device with its sharing potential becoming as low as a toothbrush", explains Sanjoy Mukerji, CEO, Hutch (Gujarat). Market analysts say that telephones are eating up much more out of the family budget than earlier. For example, if a family with an income of around 15,000 per month in 1998 (when mobile phones had just arrived) was spending just Rs 750 (5 per cent) on phone bills, its cumulative income may have gone up to Rs 40,000 during the period but the telephony spend now stands at Rs 4,000 (10 per cent). The Nagrajs, a family of three in Vadodara, has seen telephone expenses galloping at around 50 per cent every year. And Aditya, son of businessman Pramod Nagraj, says "Its not that the landline bills have come down after each one of us got a mobile phone". This trend is likely to continue as phones now acquire the reputation of a tool with varied applications, from banking to booking tickets to ordering pizzas. Telephone companies, however, have a message of consolation. They say the average revenue per unit (ARPU), has fallen from Rs 871 in financial year 2001-02 to Rs 436 in March 2004. This drop is attributed mainly to lowering of rentals for post-paid subscribers. So, take that statistic on its face-value and stay connected. (Inputs by Radha Sharma and Presley Thomas)</div> </div>

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