The Hindu Business Line : Hutch crosses 3-m mark in Gujarat

Hutch, the largest cellular service provider in Gujarat, today announced having crossed the 30-lakh mark in subscriber base in Gujarat and maintained the leadership position of being the largest-single operator in any State in India.

Hutch has added the fastest-ever million-strong subscriber base in Indian telecom history, a company official said.

Making the announcement, Mr Sunil Sood, Operations Director-Gujarat, said here that Hutch not only was the foremost telecom operator, but also had more than twice the number of subscribers compared to its nearest competitor, Idea, in Gujarat. In July 2005, Hutch had 13.47 lakh subscribers in Gujarat.

He told presspersons that the achievement was a result of the company's massive internal rural initiative with the theme of `Har Gaon, Hutch Gaon' following which the provider added one lakh new subscribers every month. The cellular operator now had spread over to 6,758 villages, out of 18,000, and 780 towns in Gujarat.

Its customer service locations had increased from 25 to 100 during the period. Ninety per cent of its subscribers in Gujarat had pre-paid connections. During the last one year in Gujarat, Hutch's mobility share increased by 46 per cent, mobility market share by 35 per cent and more than 60 per cent of its new subscribers (8.5 lakh) were added from villages.

Mr Sood pointed out that Hutch had 40 per cent market share of GSM subscribers in India, and 32 per cent share of mobility. Over 70 per cent of its new subscribers came from urban towns.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Gujarat

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page