- Wire line Services
Wire line services subscriber base stood at 39.42 million in quarter ending March 2008 as compared to 39.25 million in quarter ending December 2007
Rural Wire line Subscriber base stood at 11.64 million in quarter ending March 2008 as compared to 11.75 million in quarter ending December 2007.
- Wireless Services
The Wireless subscribers have reached to 261.07 million as on 31st March 2008 as against 233.62 million subscribers in the previous quarter. During this quarter 27.45 million subscribers were added.
(i) Subscriber Growth/Market Share
There are 192.70 million GSM subscribers (73.81%) and 68.37 million CDMA subscribers (26.19%) at the end of March 2008.
(ii) GSM
GSM Subscribers recorded 59.96% growth during the year and reached subscriber base of 192.70 million at the end of March 2008.
(iii) CDMA
CDMA subscribers recorded a growth of 53.16% during the year and reached subscriber base of 68.37 million.
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Wireless Services
There are 11.09 million Internet subscribers approximately at the end of March 2008 as compared to 10.36 million at the end of December 2007 registering a growth of 7.08%. This growth rate is slightly less than the growth rate of 7.64% at the end of December 2007.
Besides above, there are 66.09 million wireless data subscribers at the end of March 2008 (capable of accessing g data services including internet through mobile handsets (GSM/ CDMA)). However usages of Internet services through their mobile phones regularly are very low. The key indicators for Internet Services are presented in bar charts below.
- Internet Subscribers Growth - There are 11.09 million wire line Internet Subscribers at the end of March 2008.
ii) Broadband Subscriber Growth - The number of Broadband subscribers (with a download speed of 256 Kbps or more) was 3.87 million at the end of March 2008 as compared to 3.13 million at the end of December 2007. The growth rate of broadband subscribers in this quarter is 23.64%.
- Broadband Subscribers Share (Technology wise) – Out of these 3.87 million broadband subscribers, 3.28 million are DSL based; 0.37 million Cable Modem; 0.11 million Ethernet LAN; 0.05 million Fiber; 0.039 million Radio, Leased Line 0.016 million and 0.003 million use other technologies.
The mobile service has seen phenomenal growth since 2000. In September 2004, the number of mobile phone connections has crossed fixed-line connections.
India primarily follows the GSM mobile system, in the 900 MHz band. Recent operators also operate in the 1800 MHz band. The dominant players are Airtel, Reliance Infocom, Vodafone, Idea cellular and BSNL/MTNL. There are many smaller players, with operations in only a few states. International roaming agreements exist between most operators and many foreign carriers.
Following chart provides the market share among mobile companies:
The following table shows the subscriber base among prominent network service providers in India.
The list of all the Wireless service providers along with their licensed service areas is as under
Details of service providers
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), Minutes of Usage (MoU) etc.
GSM – Full Mobility Service
- The all India blended ARPU per month for the GSM segment has increased by 1.15% from Rs. 261 in Dec-07 to Rs. 264 in Mar-08.
- This increase is result of steep increase in ARPU in category “A” Circle (5.9%).
- ARPU for postpaid service has shown an increase of 1.59% from Rs. 628 in Dec-07 to Rs. 638 in Mar-08. Prepaid service has shown a higher growth rate in ARPU of 2.3% from Rs. 219 in Dec -07 to Rs. 224 in Mar-08.
- MOU per subscriber has increased from 464 in Dec -07 to 493 in Mar-08, thereby showing an increase of 6.25% as against 0.46% in quarter ending Dec-07.
- Both, outgoing and incoming MOUs have grown, higher growth being in outgoing MOUs (7.04%). Incoming MOUs have grown by 5.49%. Individually, both for postpaid and prepaid, Metros continue to have lowest outgoing MOU per subscriber as compared to other circle categories.
- Overall ratio of incoming-outgoing MOUs has been 52:48 for GSM services. For postpaid, ratio of incoming -outgoing minutes is 46:54 and for prepaid segment, it is 54:46.
CDMA (Full Mobility)
- All India blended ARPU (per month) for the quarter ending March 2008 is Rs. 159/- as compared to Rs. 176/- for the quarter ending December 2007 registering a decrease of 9.65%.
- The lowest blended ARPU per month is in U P West (Rs.117/ -) while the highest blended ARPU is in Mumbai (Rs. 228/ -).
- All India Total Blended MOU per subscriber per month has shown a decline from 375 minutes for the quarter ending December 2007 to 364 minutes for the quarter ending March 2008. The highest MOUs are recorded in Andhra Pradesh circle at 492 per subscriber per month, which is 35.2% higher than the all India figure. The lowest MOUs have been reported in Punjab Circle at 262, which is 39% lower than the all India figure.
Chapter 2
SAMPLING PLAN AND RESPONDENT DETAILS
This chapter highlights the followings….
1. Study methodology & sampling plan
2. Highlights the respondents profile based on the socio economic classifications and Demographics
Sampling Plan & Respondent profile
Sampling plan
The Field work was conducted using random sampling method. Respondents were selected after a listing exercise where in the child was in the age group of 10-18 years and was accompanied with his parents.
The type of interview was face to face and all the interviews were conducted through paired interviews where in the child along with parents were interviewed. The field work was carried out during the month of August 2008 and 1008 interviews were conducted across 10 urban centers in India.
A child who is either using his own mobile or using a shared mobile was defined as a user and vice versa for non user.
Interviews were conducted among SEC A, SEC B and SEC C. The widely accepted SEC grid in India is based on education & occupation of the respondent which is as follows:-
Respondent’s profile
This chapter reports the household’ profile of the respondent. The below graph provides the socio economic demographics of the chief wage earner in the households. In the graph below 25% of the respondents belong to the higher socio-economic group, 39% of the respondents belong to middle socio-economic group and the remaining 36% of the respondents belong to lower socio-economic group.
The following table shows the break up of socio economic group center wise
In the present same 54% of the respondent’s are Male children’s and 46% of the respondents are female children’s. This is again representing the Indian population which is male skewed i.e less female for every 1000 Male in India.
The below graph represents the age of children’s, 18% of the children’s are in the age group of 18 years. 34% (10-12 Years) of the respondents are studying in primary schools where as 18 %( 13-14 Years) are in Junior high school and 48 %( 15-18 years) in high school/college.
The below graph provides the break up of Male children’s age group distribution.
The below graph provides the break up of Female children’s age group distribution.
The following table below provides the break up of children’s age center wise.
The following table provides the socio economic distribution among different age groups.
Among the paired interviews, 76% of the interviews were conducted with child accompanied by mother and remaining 24% with child accompanied by father. This could be due to most of mothers in India are housewives as compared to other country where large population of females are working women.
Chapter 3
MOBILE PHONE OWNERSHIP AND USAGE BY CHILDREN
This chapter highlights the followings….
1. Mobile phone ownership among children.
2. Describes the usage of mobile amongst children within genders/ age groups /city type.
3. Describes the children’s age & reasons to start using the mobile phone
4. How life of parents has changed after use of mobile phones by their children.
5. Mobile phone usage like type of connection / money spent / selection of network service providers and types of mobile handsets used
Mobile phone ownership and usage by children
Mobile phone ownership among children
Mobile phone ownership among children among the children surveyed, 22% have a mobile phone of their own. Whereas 54% have a mobile phone shared with another, which is a substantial proportion. From a parents’ point of view, one out of seven children who do not own a mobile phone want to have one. Therefore this means that children in general seem to be content with usage of mobile phone on a shared basis.
Further analyzes the result described above by age. A surge in mobile phone ownership can be seen among children aged 15 to 18 years old. These ages coincide with children’s admission to high school/ college, when their parents often buy a mobile phone for them. Mobile phone ownership reaches 60% among college students aged 18. For high school students, a mobile phone has almost become a necessity which they cannot live without since they attend the private coaching classes after the school hours ( in late evening hence need to communicate with parents ) for preparing the competitive examination for getting admission in better colleges / universities like IITs.. Among junior high school children (13 to 14 years old), the ownership increases slowly, but its growth is not so significant. Mobile ownership among elementary school children (10 to 12 years old) is low, though the usage is high (usage of mobile on a shared basis). This means that an almost equal portion of children seemingly do not want to own a mobile phone as compared to those who already own a mobile phone when they are in elementary school. Mobile ownership rises about 40% to 50% when they enter high school, and continues to edge up to nearly 30% during the 2 years in college.
At the same survey result by their gender, this tells that there is no significant gender difference in children’s mobile phone ownership.
Male children have higher mobile phone ownership than their female counterparts with 28% for the former and 16% for the later and this gender biasness is primary coming after the age of 16 years only and continues to increase further.
When metro/ bigger cities and smaller cities are compared, 22% of metro (bigger city) children have a mobile phone in comparison to 24% in smaller cities. The gap between Metro and smaller cities, therefore, is minimal at 2% which is not significant. Please note that, for this report as a whole, metro/ bigger cities are represented by Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune, whereas Cochin, Ludhiana and Patna represent the smaller cities. Hence location-based difference in ownership does not seem to exist among children. Children from both the location seem to have an identical mobile ownership.
Parents’ with income level between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 are the highest group who are currently providing mobile phones to their children’s. As we see from this graph that there is positive co-relation (Ownership increase as income increases and shared usage of mobile decreases as income increases) between income and ownership of mobile among children.
Children’s age to start using a mobile phone
The below graph shows the age of children’s starting using mobile. A majority of children’s start using mobile phones at the age of 8 to10 years. Start of mobile phone in early age could be explained by lack of urban infrastructure (like lack of public telephone booth / lack of pubic transport system in India), novelty factors attached with category and habit of show off among Indian parents.
There is not much gender difference in the age at which children start using mobile phone
There is not much SEC difference in the age at which children start using mobile phone
The reason why parents let their children have a mobile phone and why children want to have a mobile phone
Reason to own a mobile
The below graph shows the reasons why parents get their children a mobile phone, The most popular answer is 1) the ability for parents to always reach their children and 2) to be reached by their children. The third answers are 3) the ability to make a call in case of emergency and having a mobile increases one’s status.
The reasons why children want to have their own phone are shown below. A direct comparison with parents’ data is not possible since these options are not entirely the same as those for their parents. But at least we can recognize some inclination among children.
The prime reason given by children for their phone ownership is the answer 1) So that they can reach their family at any point of time.
The prime reason why parents have their children get a mobile phone from a parents’ standpoint is the ability to always to reach their children when necessary. This option is not included in the choice of answers shown below but the closest one may be b) the ability for children to call home when they are out late at night. The children too put high importance on the answer b), which ranks first among children.
What is relatively equally recognized by both parents and their children is communication in case of emergency. Both parents and their children support this option as an answer.
The most significant disparity between parents and their children is the effects of mobile phone ownership among children’s friends. This is ranked as number three which is quite obvious due to high usage of mobile phones among their friends circle. Hence this concludes that effect of network externality / peer pressure among children.
Now we can summarize as follows. Parents buy a mobile phone for their children for in case of emergency. Their children, on the other hand, too believe the mobile would help them stay in touch with their parents. The contradicting opinion is the views of parents and children on ownership amongst the network.
Majority of the children after age of 14 years want a mobile phone to be in touch with their family member when they are away from home as this is the age when they are out after school hours for private coaching / tuition to prepare for competitive examination.
Majority of children owning a mobile phone at the age of 16 and 17 years since they receive it as a reward from their parents (rewards occasion like scoring high marks in senior high school / ability to get through in competitive examination like IITs and engineering colleges etc.)
12 and 15 years is the age when children getting admission in to junior high school and entering in to college hence they faced / get affected the most with peer pressure and preferred to have mobile phone due to their friends also having a mobile phone.
Close three friends having mobile
32% of the children are of the opinion that their friends still don’t have access to mobile phones. But 68% of the child’s friend has a mobile phone.
Percentage of friends using mobile
Children’s are of the opinion that still 20% of their friends do not use any mobile phone.
How life of Parents has changed as a result of children start using their mobile phone…
Majority of the parents feels that their life has made easy after their children start using mobile phone due to their ability to be in touch with their children whenever they want or in case of any emergency. Thus it reduces the uncertainty / anxiety among parents by increasing the mode of communication with their children. Now parents can concentrate in their respective work thus making their life easy.
Parents feel that owning a mobile phone does not bring the sense of superiority among their children since it is a mere mode of communication.
To keep in touch with the child whenever required
In the below table 65% of the parents strongly agree on the main reason of providing mobile phone for their children on the aspect of contacting their children whenever required.
To have better communication with the child
Almost 40% of the parents strongly agree that mobile phones enable them to have better communication with their children’s.
To keep in contact during emergency
One of the main reasons in India on why parents provide mobile phones to their children’s is to have a sense of security for their children’s. Almost 48% of the parents strongly agree to the fact that mobiles are very helpful during emergency times.
To help child to increase friends circle
Parents do not agree that mobile phone helps to increase their friendship circle. In India people still prefer to have face to face / one to one conversation / discussion. Phones are still used as mode of communication only.
To have a sense of superiority
Mobile phones in India are just a communication medium. Most of the parents do not agree that owning a mobile phone make their child look superior in the society. However on other hand parents consider this as a way of show off / status symbol among their peer group.
Life made easy with mobile
The revolution of mobile phones in India has changed the outlook of people towards mobile phones. However parents do not feel that mobile phones have made their lives easier. According to them it just eased / increased the communication medium. This is also true because in India, mobile phones are still used for basis communication only (high voice usages) and usage of VAS (data usages) services like electronic money transfer / GPS / e-mail / mobile TV / accessing other services are next to negligible. VAS services which are very popular in India are music / games and SMS only.
Greater opportunity for my child
India is changing and mobile phones have become one basic requirement in the day-to-day life of people. Parents do not agree to the fact that mobiles phones have helped their children’s to have greater opportunities in life. This is also true to the fact that most of children in the age of 10 to 18 does not work as a part time or full time and does not earn any money in India.
Mobile phone Usages
Mobile Phones in house hold
Among the sample size 61% of the respondents have more than one mobile in their house hold and 33% of the respondents have at least one mobile phone in their house hold.
Expenditure for mobile phone use and its charges based on usage
Type of connection
In India almost 90% of the parents provide prepaid mobile connection to their children. This is in line with market trends where Pre paid Vs. Post Paid connection is in the ratio of 70:30.
Money spent on prepaid recharge
Almost 52% of the parents spend around Rs100-250 on their children’s prepaid mobile monthly usage and on an average monthly mobile spend is Rs. 250. This amount is again in line with industry ARPU.
Money spent on postpaid bill
Though post paid connection is not popular among Indian telecom industry as well as children’s due to tariff rates and convenience, still around 42% of them spend in the range of Rs. 250 to Rs. 550 monthly on their children’s post paid bill and on average Rs. 500. This is again more or less in line with the industry trends.
Type of handsets used
The cell phone market in India is just booming. In India especially new handsets are very high in demand and from the graph below it clearly indicates that 90% of the parents provide new handsets to their children’s.
This is due to average selling values (ASVs) of handsets continue to fall in Indian market in the wake of a highly competitive landscape populated by close to 25 vendors in India. In India lowest handset ASV is available as low as Rs. 1500/=
Brand of mobile handset used
Nokia is one household brand name in India. 70% of the respondents own a Nokia handset. The various price range available, various functions and features along with competitive pricing has indeed made Nokia the market leader in Indian cell phone Industry. This trend is very similar to market share of various handset vendors in India.
Price of handset
Many parents provide economy handsets to their children’s, around 75% of the parents provide mobile handsets below Rs. 6000.
On an average handset price is Rs. 4000 /=
Type of mobile phone
India has two types of mobile technology that are being offered by service providers. GSM is the most popular technology and almost 75% of the parents provide GSM operated handsets to their children. This is again as per the industry trends
Selection of Network Service Provider
India has many network service providers. Airtel is the market leader and one of the most popular service providers in India, among the respondents 31% of them use Airtel service followed by 18% of the respondents using Vodafone service. This is again as per the industry trends and indicates that no service providers are focusing children till now as separate category. Does this provide opportunity for service providers in India?
.
Chapter 4
MEDIA ANALYSIS
This chapter highlights the followings….
1. Durables Ownership in household & frequency of its usage
2. Media usage & time spent on media
3. Level of trust on information media
4. Functions installed in mobile phone & frequency of its usage
5. Importance of features while selecting a mobile phone
Media Analysis
Durables owned in the household
The highest number of durables in the household is mobile phones. Almost 82% of the children’s have mobile phones in their house hold. However Fax is the lowest used durable in household due its non utility in Indian household.
Frequency of durable usage
The popular usage of durable in house hold includes fixed telephone, Personal computer, Mobile phone and Music video player.
This indicates that penetration of PC is less in household but usages is high among those household, which owns it.
Media usage
Almost 99% of the respondents watch television regularly and In India TV is one of most popular medium for entertainment. 70% of the respondents also read newspaper as print mediums is still dominant in India due to less penetration of Internet subscribers and PC in Indian households.
Time spent on information media
Most of the people in India spend their time watching television as this is main mode of entertainment. In India, there more than 150 Channels operating in India in different languages.
Level of trust on information media
Most of the respondents rely on the in formations provided by TV.
Television and newspaper are the most trusted information media source in India.
Functions of mobile phones used by children
Aspects of mobile learnt
Children’s learn most of the aspects of using mobile from their family members. It indicates children in India are very much influenced by their parents / other family members.
Function installed in mobile
Most of the children’s use mobile for playing games. Games are the most popular function installed in mobile phones. These games are mostly pre loaded with the mobile handset only by the OEM.
Frequency of usage
Games and Music is the used the most by children in their handset.
Television is the most frequently among children.
Functions used in a day
Very few children having Camera and Internet installed in to their handsets but among those who owns it, their usage on daily basis is very high. On the other hand almost all the children having games installed in their handset but their daily usage is less. It may be due to their focus on their education and lack of in-door games popularity in India.
Importance of features while selecting a mobile phone
Battery life is one of the most important features which children’s consider while selecting mobile phone. This is important considering their high usages of features like games and camera on daily basis.
Mobile network service use by children
Communication services used
Mobile phones are mostly used for making outgoing and incoming calls.
Frequency usage in a day
Children’s use mobile phones often for receiving incoming calls followed by making outgoing calls from their mobile phones.
Usage of Voice/messaging services
59% of the children’s use their mobile to meet someone followed by communication of their returning home to their parents.
Here work related issue is referring to education related work as most of children do not work and they are financial dependent on their parents.
Chapter 5
LIFESTYLE ANALYSIS
This chapter highlights the followings….
1. Attitude towards using a mobile phone
2. Mode of communications
Life style Analysis
Target of communication
Communication with relatives
Face to face communication is the most popular means of communication among children. Parents are the most communicated people in India by children.
Children’s mindset on mobile phone use
Most of the respondents are agree with the statements saying that it is fun to use a mobile phone and I talk more than before to my parents and family. They also feel that not having a mobile phone is inconvenient for them.
They are also denying the statements, which say I feel lonely when I don’t receive any message & Voice calls. This is due to children communicating more face to face in India.
They are also agreeing with the statement that Communication by mobile is troublesome sometimes. This could be attributed to quality of network.
Statements about usage of mobile phones
Here are some of the statements, which children have said about using mobile phones.
Chapter 6
TRENDS AMONG CHILDREN WITHOUT MOBILE PHONES AND MARKET MATURITY
This chapter highlights the followings….
1. Trends in children without mobile phones & reasons to want a mobile phone
2. Reasons for not wanting a mobile
3. Maturity of mobile phone market targeted at children
4. Appropriate person to educate the child on mobile usage
Trends among children without mobile phones and market maturity
Trends in children without mobile phones
Want a mobile phone
52% of the children do not feel they want a mobile at this age. But a fair 48% of the children’s feel they want their own mobile.
Reasons to want a phone
33% of the children’s feel they want a mobile because their friends have started using a mobile phone. This attributes is one of the top three reasons for owning a mobile phone among mobile users. Now if we look at the findings of non users then in future we can see that peer pressure among children will become as one of key reasons for owning the mobile phone among children.
Reasons for not wanting a mobile phone
34% of the children are who do not want a mobile feel they don’t need to own a mobile since their families have their own phone.
23% of children do not own the mobile due to theirs friends do not own. Once penetration of mobile usage will increase then we can clearly see that peer pressure / influence will be the key in future for owning the mobile phone among children.
Maturity of mobile phone market targeted at children
Following are the concerns of parents have on children’s mobile usage
Only 24% of parents in India feel their children talk over the phone for a longer time. But 48% of the parents feel their children are responsible and use mobile appropriately.
More than half of the parents never feel that they are incurring too much expenditure on their children mobile monthly bill.
Hardly 15% of the parents think their children may be accessing inappropriate contents over mobile phone. But a majority of parents feel they never had concerns over children’s usage.
Majority of the parents never felt that their child is communicating with unknown people. This also indicates the changing mindset of Indian parents over the years.
Factors considered while choosing mobile phone by parents
Brand and cost of mobile handsets are key factors considered while choosing a mobile handset. This is followed by Handset design and functions. This is
Appropriate person to educate the child
83% of the parents feel that someone in the family is the most appropriate person to educate the child on how to use mobile.
Chapter 7
DEMOGRAPHICS
This chapter highlights the followings….
1. Education & occupation of the respondent
2. Household income & no of people in household
Demographics
Childs education profile
Among the children’s 67% of children’s in the sample are currently undergoing their primary education.
Occupation of parents
Among the respondents 70% of them are housewives.
Education level of Parents
More than half of the respondents have completed their primary education followed by 21% of the parents completing their graduation or post-graduation.
House hold income
Almost 33% of the respondents have a monthly income ranging from Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000 followed by monthly income of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000.
No of people in household (other than respondents i.e. one parents)
Indian families are becoming nuclear. Among the respondents 40% of them are having four members in their families.
Chapter 8
SUMMARY
Summary
The mobile industry in India is one of the fastest growing mobile markets over the world. With its current 290 Million subscriber base, India stands at the second position in the world in terms of telecommunication.
In the survey care has been taken to get a spread across various aspects in terms of socio economic groups getting represented from various centers that were covered during the study. Among the children’s more than sixty percent of them are currently undergoing their primary education.
Among the respondents fifty four percent of the parents have done their primary education and a good number of twenty two percent of the respondents have done their graduations/post graduation.
An indicator of the booming mobile market in India can be known from the fact that almost ninety four of the respondents have either one or more mobile phone’s in their houses.
One of the important indication’s that has come across the study is children’s are presently becoming more aware and more than seventy five percent of them either use their own or a shared mobile
In India the family bonding plays a very important role and almost half of the parents have provided mobile to their children to have communication with them whenever required. Parents also feel that by providing mobile phones to their children they would get better opportunities for their future endeavor.
Social status also plays a very important role in India especially while selecting mobile’s and it’s even prominent among children as well. Almost ninety percent of them opt for a new handset and also are keen on selecting the mobile handsets and network service providers. Economy handsets are more popular in India and almost seventy five percent of them have chosen their mobile phones having GSM technology. Coat of the mobile and its brand name play a prominent role while selecting the mobile phones.
In India most of the parents consider prepaid connections for their children. The prepaid connections usually help the parents to keep track on their children’s monthly expenditure their mobile phones.
Parents in India at present do not have much concern on how their children use their mobile phone. They find family members are the appropriate people to educate their children on how to use their mobile phone.
The trend in India at present is towards nuclear families and with the growing household income parents can easily afford to provide mobile phones to their children.
The prominent device among Indian household is Mobile phones and also it’s being used most often in households.
An astonishing 99% of the respondents have television in their house hold which is a great form of entertainment for parents as well as children in India. People spend more time watching television than any of the other information mediums. But still in the age of booming technology people still enjoy reading newspapers and also get some enjoyment hearing radio. The growing number of FM channels in India has bought back the popularity of radio in Indian market.
People in India mainly trust the televisions than any other media sources. This may be due to the fact that media in India has been given a good freedom to bring out information to the public.
Children’s in India mainly communicate to their parents through face to face conversation. Parents in India play a major role in children’s life. Many of the children learn the various aspects of using a mobile from their parent’s.
‘Games’ is one word children’s like in mobile phones. And almost 97% of the children who use mobile phone spend their time in playing games.
Unlike teenagers who use messaging services most often to communicate, children however prefer to make and receive calls, which are easier and more convenient.
Children’s use the mobile services mainly for arranging to meet someone through voice calls and messaging services mainly to communicate on how they are feeling.
Children agree on the fact that mobile phones are fun to use and without having a mobile phone would make them feel inconvenient and insecure. Children in India like to give either landline number or their mobile numbers to their friends rather than communicating through E-mails.
Battery life is one of the most important features which children look forward while selecting their mobile phones, this can be attributed on the fact that children like to play games in their mobile.
More than fifty percent of the children who currently do not own a mobile phone would definitely like to have their own mobile phones and one of the important factors driving them is because their friends have started using mobile phones. It can be also seen more than fifty percent of the children’s close friends use a mobile phone.
Parents in India join their children’s to tuitions and coaching classes, which are usually conducted after the school hours. And children feel having a mobile phone helps them to communicate with their family when they are coming late.
Many children who do not want a mobile phone feel since parents have a mobile it does not matter whether they have a mobile phone or not.
In short from the above study, it can be summarized that mobile phones have become popular among children’s and there is a growing trend among children to have their own mobile phones.
Source: China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII)
1 USD is equivalent to INR 44.
Due to low base in chart 3.4 data is being not represented beyond Rs 40000/-
