Bharti Airtel crosses 50 Million subscribers

In September 2007, Airtel crossed the 50 Million subscriber mark and reportedly, the company has become the 10th largest mobile telephony company in the world (based on number of subscribers). The mobile telephone revolution in India is nothing short of amazing. In just over 15 years, our mobile phone penetration is far higher than that of fixed line telephones. I remember that 1 minute of mobile usage cost Rs32 when mobile telephones were first launched in India- sometime in 1992 or so. The prices halved about one year later and have been steadily declining ever since. Another “chak de” moment, would you not agree?