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Hutch hits 2 million cell users in India
KOLKATA, India -- Hutchison Whampoa says it will have 2 million cell-phone customers in India by the end of the year. The Hong Kong-based conglomerate, which is also the world's largest ports operator, had 1.6 million customers at the end of August. "Our national market share is around 20 percent of cellular subscribers," Asim Ghosh, managing director of Hutchison Telecom East Ltd., said at a press conference. "Yes, we should be reaching 2 million subscribers by the end of December," he said. Hutchison Telecom East is its affiliate in Kolkata. Hutchison Whampoa's affiliates offer cell-phone service coverage in the cities of Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata, as well as in Gujurat state. Record cell-phone growthThe company started offering cell-phone service in 1995 in Mumbai, India's main business city, and started selling its services under the "Orange" brand name in 2000. India set record cell-phone growth in November, adding 753,432 new customers. That brings the total number of mobile users to 9.73 million. The Cellular Operators Association of India says rates in India are the cheapest in the world. (Full story) But India is still far behind China in the rate of adoption. Only one in 100 people in India uses a cell phone, compared with one in seven people in China. State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. is the country's first nationwide carrier, though it does not serve New Delhi and Mumbai. The other main players in the cell-phone market are Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. and state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. Reuters contributed to this report.
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