6.49

industry for the last year—that remained in the news mostly because of scams and scandals and lacked any significant sectoral development—the industry stakeholders would pat their own backs seeing this growth, though a miniscule one.

As they say…when the going gets tough, the tough get going…it was the Indian cellular industry that once again proved its mantle and rose as a savior for the sinking telecom industry. It was cellular that has been suffering from various issues, but when the act demanded, it showed its character. It grew by 17% to bring 118,537 crore in FY 2011-12 compared to 101,434 crore in FY 2010-11. Overall, it contributed 65% of the entire industry’s revenue. In terms of cellular subscriber base, the country added more than 107 mn new connections in the last fiscal taking the tally to more than 900 mn wireless subscribers.

It’s a different fact that all subscribers are not active. A VoiceFData analysis estimates that the active mobile subscrib-