Exploring the Main Factors Affecting Mobile Phone Growth Rates in Indian States

This paper investigates the growth of mobile telecommunications across the 23 circles (or states) in India for the period 2005–2021. From this study, we note that diffusion of mobile phones in Indian circles (or states) was influenced by the telecommunication policy of the Indian government. We noted that the growth rates of mobile telephony in all the 23 states followed a logistic model. From this, we inferred that some of the Indian states, with low GDP per capita income started rolling out mobile telephony operations later than states with high GDP per capita income, but could catch with the later. It also follows that states with more rural regions had more adoption of mobile telephony. From this study, we can inform policy makers and telecom providers that electrical power consumption, Human Development Index (HDI), Herfindahl Index (HHI) and proportion of rural to urban ratio do not form an important parameter for mobile growth.