Problem states warm up to infoway

They are the problem states. Some do without electricity, others without water and some with no roads. But the one thing they want most 1...

They are the problem states. Some do without electricity, others without water and some with no roads. But the one thing they want most 8212; is a telephone.

Going by the latest numbers from state-owned telecom corporation BSNL, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal not counting Kolkata, Assam and the rest of North East have the highest growth rate of telephones today.

The numbers are startling enough to convince the government about where the next wave of growth in telephone services will come from. In short, if Bihar8217;s teledensity can grow at 46.94 per cent, three times India8217;s pace, all operators, whether public or private, will soon find themselves building stronger networks there.

Even in Uttar Pradesh, teledensity is growing at 31.57 per cent, while Assam is adding phones at 32 per cent and the North East at 14.65 per cent, close to the national average of 15 per cent.

West Bengal beats the average teledensity growth of 15 per cent hands down, crossing 33 per cent, not including Kolkata8217;s 14 per cent growth rate. In Orissa, the installed telephone base is growing at over 32 per cent.

8216;8216;Earlier myths about the urban-rural divide and metro-state schism in telephone demand and growth are breaking up now. We find that Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have the highest demand for telephones today,8217;8217; said a Department of Telecom DoT official.

The burgeoning demand for phones in these states apart, their installed base of telephones is also not enough to expect demand will be stunted soon. In Bihar, for instance, the installed base is at 3.44 per cent. Even in a decade, it will not catch up with Delhi8217;s 56 per cent teledensity. Orissa8217;s 5.23 per cent, UP8217;s 4.30, North East8217;s 4.58, Assam8217;s 3.66 and West Bengal8217;s 3.98, coupled with their high demand growth, imply that their markets will soon be full of telecom possibilities.

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This is also borne out by the long list of people waiting for phones in these states. In Assam, 24,139 are waiting in BSNL8217;s queue, a massive 1.1 lakh in Bihar and 1.5 lakh in UP, around 7,000 in North East, under 30,000 in Orissa and 1.4 lakh in West Bengal.

Most of the waitlisted are in queues for landlines, only about 2,000 people in Assam and the North East circle are waiting for a CellOne connection.

8216;8216;That, of course, is because people would rather stay with BSNL than go for private operators in many parts of the country. They can choose not to wait and go to the private sector instead, but they have not,8217;8217; said a BSNL official.