CDMA major Reliance Infocomm has registered over one million new connections in December this year, the highest ever recorded by the company after its 'Monsoon Hungama'. This increases the total number of the company's customers to 17 million, making it the leading CDMA player in the Indian telecom sector.
"The record increase in customers were due to the various schemes launched by the company during the month, with 1, 2, 3 and lifetime validity offers. The company's full amount refund scheme and full talk time schemes also contributed to the addition of one million users in last month," sources told Business Standard in Mumbai on Friday.
This is the second highest subscriber addition for the company, the earlier being during the time of its 'Monsoon Hungama' offer. During the offer period, Reliance Infocomm had garnered over one million users during a 10-day period.
Monsoon Hungama, which was launched in July 2003, targeted entry level customers with both a low entry cost and a low monthly spend. The scheme was also instrumental in roping in customers to the newly CDMA services from the monopoly of the GSM service providers in the country. It also helped the company in establishing its presence in the telecom sector, as the scheme has lowered entry barrier to Rs 501.
The company has also increased its coverage to over 4,500 towns during the calendar year, from its presence of around 1,500 as on the beginning of 2005. Its network footprint was increased to cover around 300,000 villages during the year from the earlier 120,000 villages, and Infocomm is planning to extend it to over 634,000 villages, they said.
These initiatives were under the company's rural foray, and the Anil Ambani-owned company is positioning its entry-level handsets coupled with attractive tariffs to penetrate into the remotest Indian villages.
As most of its handsets can access the Net, the company with its R Connect, an Internet application, was looking at providing broadband services in the rural areas.
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