Multiple Connection Mobile

Users*
*Urban only
 Macro Numbers
• 1 in 3 (37%) of all urban users have multiple mobile connections,
i.e., 57 million urban mobile users have a multiple connection

• On an average, these 57 million mobile users have 2.4 connections

per person (against an all urban average of 1.5)

• In total, these 57 million mobile users account for 59% of all urban
mobile phone connections (138 million out of 235 million)

• Of these 57 million multiple connection mobile users (MCMU), 70%

have 2 connections, 20% have 3 connections and balance 10% have
more than 3 connections

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 Macro Numbers
• MCMUs also have more mobile users in their households
(an average of 3.4 users as against 2.8 users for all
urban mobile users)

• This is in line with the fact that 3 generation joint

families (Dynasties) show the highest ownerships of
mobile phones (at 55% penetration) among the various
types of families in India

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 Other Demographic Details
• Though 25-35 year olds also form the largest base of MCMU, it is the
35 years + age groups that have proportionately higher ownerships of
multiple mobile connections

Age group distribution All Urban Urban MCMUs

Mobile Users
13-18 yrs 12% 11%
19-24 yrs 31% 23%
25-35 yrs 32% 33%
36-45 yrs 14% 19%
46-55 yrs 8% 10%
Above 55 yrs 3% 4%

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 Other Demographic
Details
• Urban women show up as a higher proportion of MCMU (30%) than they
show up of all urban mobile users (24%) – showing a somewhat higher
tendency to have multiple connections than men

• Among mainline cities, while Delhi NCR forms the single largest base of
MCMU (12%), Surat mobile users shows up to have the highest ratio of
proportion of MCMU against proportion of all urban mobile users
(AUMU) at 1.33

• SEC ‘A’ and ‘C’ mobile users show higher tendency to have multiple
connection

• However, the average monthly family income of MCMU is only 1.1 times
that of AUMU (Rs. 17,500 against Rs.15,820) – that is MCMU are not
necessarily significantly better off financially

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Socio Economic Urban Mobile Urban Multiple City AUMU MCMU MCMU/AUMU
Classification Users Mobile users Ratio
SEC A 15% 18%
Surat 1% 1% 1.33
SEC B 27% 26% Guwahati 0% 1% 1.25
SEC C 26% 31% Lucknow 1% 1% 1.20
SEC D 19% 13% Bhopal 1% 1% 1.20
SEC E 13% 12% Bhubaneswar 1% 1% 1.17
Secunderabad 2% 2% 1.09
Kolkata 2% 3% 1.08
Hyderabad 4% 4% 1.05
Delhi(NCR) 12% 12% 1.04
Pune 2% 3% 1.04
Monthly family Urban Urban Multiple
Ahmedabad 2% 2% 1.00
income Mobile Mobile users Coimbatore 1% 1% 1.00
Users Visakhapatnam 1% 1% 1.00
Less than Rs 6250 31% 33% Jaipur 1% 1% 1.00
Rs 6250 - Rs 12500 37% 28% Trivandrum 1% 1% 1.00
Rs 12500 - Rs 25000 18% 21% Chandigarh 1% 1% 1.00
Rs 25000 - Rs 40000 7% 9% Mysore 1% 1% 1.00
Kalyan-Dombivali 0% 0% 1.00
Rs 40000 - Rs 80000 4% 5% Nagpur 1% 1% 1.00
Rs 80000- Rs 100,000 1% 2% Ludhiana 1% 1% 1.00
More than 100,000 2% 2% Chennai 7% 6% 0.95
Average MHI Bangalore 7% 7% 0.89
Greater Mumbai 9% 8% 0.88
15,823 17,507 Thane 1% 1% 0.88
Vadodara 1% 1% 0.88
Kochi 1% 1% 0.86
Vijayawada 1% 0% 0.80
Madurai 1% 0% 0.67
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 Other Demographic Details
• Other members of the household rather than chief
wage earner show a higher tendency to own multiple
mobile connections
Head of the household/CWE Urban Mobile Urban Multiple
Users Mobile users
Head of the household 38% 36%
Not the head of the household 62% 65%

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 Usage Details

• 70% MCMU have an Airtel connection and 48% a Reliance

connection
Service provider of your mobile Urban Urban Multiple
phone connection (Cumulative) Mobile Users Mobile users
Airtel 39% 70%
Vodafone 24% 34%
BSNL 20% 32%
Idea 13% 20%
Aircel 5% 7%
Reliance GSM 7% 12%
Spice 1% 2%
MTNL 3% 4%
Loop Mobile 1% 2%
Reliance CDMA 23% 36%
Tata Indicom 18% 25%

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 Usage Details
• While the average no. of connections MCMU have is 2.4, they
use only an average of 1.6 handsets to operate these
connections – indicates usage of multiple SIMs on the same
handset (avg. of 1.4 SIMs per handset)

• Almost 76% of MCMU have a Nokia handset

Handset brand of your mobile Urban Urban Multiple
phone connection(Cumulative) Mobile Users Mobile users
Nokia 62% 76%
LG 24% 29%
Samsung 15% 20%
Sony Ericsson 11% 16%
Motorola 10% 13%
Haier 3% 5%
Spice 1% 3%
Classic 3% 3%
HTC 1% 1% 9
 Usage Details
• MCMU are marginally more post-paid subscribers
Type of mobile phone connection Urban Mobile Urban Multiple
(Cumulative) Users Mobile users
Prepaid 93% 90%
Postpaid 7% 10%

• The tendency of having multiple connections is highest

among urban mobile users who have been using mobile
phones for more than 5 years
Since when have you been using the Urban Mobile Urban Multiple
connection Users Mobile users
Less than 1 month 3% 1%
1 to 3 month 2% 2%
3 to 6 months 6% 6%
6 months to 1 year 15% 16%
1 to 2 years 23% 18%
2 to 5 years 37% 37%
More than 5 years 15% 20%
Average usage experience (months) 30.2 32.7
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• International roaming and activated SMS packs are the
most noticeable service features MCMUs use more than the
regular urban mobile users
Which of the following features are activated in your Urban Mobile Urban Multiple Mobile
connection Users users
Outgoing STD facility 85% 88%
Outgoing ISD facility 42% 44%
Domestic Roaming 45% 49%
International Roaming 14% 22%
Call waiting service 57% 57%
Call forwarding service 31% 34%
Call barring service 19% 20%
Voicemail 33% 33%
WAP/GPRS/EDGE activation 21% 26%
MMS 23% 24%
Local language support 25% 25%
Caller Ring Back Tune(CRBT) 21% 23%
Mobile payment 17% 18%
Able to download wallpaper/Ringtones/music/videos etc 35% 41%
Closed User Group(CUG) 11% 13%
Special/unlimited talk plans activated 18% 20%
SMS pack activated 48% 54%
Push mail service (like blackberry) 6% 8%
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• MCMU talk only marginally more minutes than AUMU

On an average how many hours in a day Urban Mobile Urban Multiple

do you spend talking on your phone Users Mobile users
Average in minutes per day 112 126

• MCMU do not show any noticeably different

satisfaction or dissatisfaction levels from their
connections than the AUMU

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• Reliance is likely to gain the most if MCMU were to buy
yet another connection. However, Airtel and Vodafone
are more favorites at the AUMU level
Service providers are you most likely Urban Mobile Urban Multiple
to go for your next mobile phone Users Mobile users
connection
Airtel 33% 23%
Reliance 15% 36%
Aircel 4% 6%
BPL/Loop Mobile 0% 0%
BSNL 5% 4%
Vodafone 32% 27%
Idea 1% 0%
MTNL 1% 0%
Spice 0% 0%
Tata Indicom 4% 0%
Virgin 1% 3%
Don't know/Can't say 5% 1%
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• The reasons that makes MCMU to switch to a new
handset more than the AUMU are:

– Battery talk-time becoming very low (64% vs. 32% for AUMU)
– Need another spare handset (41% vs. 24% for AUMU)
– Want to switch between CDMA/GSM (30% vs. 19% for AUMU)

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The report is ready and available off the
shelf for Rs. 200K (plus the service tax).
For details of the report please contact:

mrutyunjay@juxtconsult.com
+91-97171 – 33445
+91-98991 - 96123