GOVERNMENT
OF INDIA
A Digital India Initiative
GOVERNMENT
OF INDIA
The Tele-density in India has increased at a phenomenal rate in the 21st century. Both rural and urban areas have shown a remarkable progress in the growth of the number of telephones including mobiles and have consequently achieved a higher and higher level of Tele-density.
The Tele-density in rural parts of India in the year 2001 was 0.93%. The Tele-density in rural parts of India in the year 2002 was 1.21% and recorded a growth of 0.28 percentage points over the previous year. The Tele-density in rural parts of India in the year 2014 was 44.01% and recorded a growth of 2.96 percentage points over the previous year.
The maximum growth of 9.52 percentage points in Tele-density in rural parts of India was recorded in the year 2011. The minimum growth of 0.06 percentage points in Tele-density in rural parts of India was recorded in the year 2004.
The Tele-density in urban parts of India in the year 2001 was 10.37%. The Tele-density in urban parts of India in the year 2002 was 12.2% and recorded a growth of 1.83 percentage points over the previous year. The Tele-density in urban parts of India in the year 2014 was 145.46% and recorded a decline of -1.18 percentage points over the previous year. The maximum growth of 37.49 percentage points in Tele-density in urban parts of India was recorded in the year 2011. The minimum growth, in fact, negative growth of -22.53 percentage points in Tele-density in urban parts of India was recorded in the year 2013.
Thus, there has been steady growth in Tele-Density in India form the year 2001 to 2012. Rural India has made progress by leaps and bounds particularly since 2009.
The Tele-Density of rural India, which was less than one tenth of the Tele-Density of urban India in 2001, has risen to just a tad below one third of Tele-Density of urban India in 2014.
https://data.gov.in/visualize3/?inst=70cfa0e94f6502fdfd7f769721090caf&vid=4763
The various states of India, including the national capital territory of Delhi, have been ranked on the criterion of rural Tele-density recorded by the respective states as on 31.03.2014. The rural Tele-density has, now-a-days, emerged as one of the important parameters to assess the inclusive growth and development of a particular state. It gives a relative measure to compare the depth of the communication network, particularly the flag-bearer of communication in present day world i.e. mobile penetration, in the various states of India.
The Top 10 states of India, ranked on the criterion of rural Tele-density recorded by the respective states as on 31.03.2014, were: Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Punjab, Kerala, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Thus, Delhi had the highest rural Tele-density and was on the top rank amongst the various states of India; followed by Himachal Pradesh.
The states with high rural Tele-density – like Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Punjab etc. – would be in a much better position to capitalize on and take benefits from the various digital initiatives being taken by the Government of India for digital empowerment of the masses and provision of digital delivery of various services to the Indian citizens.
https://data.gov.in/visualize/?inst=9e7034cf9656e2c22a2c78eb6deb1a88&vid=13081
The various states of India, including the national capital territory of Delhi, have been ranked on the criterion of urban Tele-density recorded by the respective states as on 31.03.2014. The Top 10 states of India, ranked on the criterion of urban Tele-density recorded by the respective states as on 31.03.2014, were: Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Rajasthan, Goa, Punjab and North Eastern States of Arunachal Pradesh along with Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, which are included in North East service area and have collectively been ranked on the tenth position. Thus, Himachal Pradesh had the highest urban Tele-density and was on the top rank amongst the various states of India; followed by Delhi.
https://data.gov.in/visualize/?inst=9e7034cf9656e2c22a2c78eb6deb1a88&vid=13221
It is evident from the above mentioned facts and analysis that the Tele-density in India increased at a high rate during the period from the year 2001 to 2014, except the year 2013 and 2014 in case of urban areas wherein the urban Tele-density decreased due to the exclusion of inactive mobile subscribers. High rate of growth in Tele-density has benefitted the Indian public in numerous ways besides plain vanilla telephonic conversation like mobile banking, map and route planning, social media, accessing government services on mobiles particularly smart phones etc.
References:
https://data.gov.in/catalog/teledensity-india
https://data.gov.in/catalog/major-socio-economic-indicators-states-india