SMS usage hits all time low in India: TRAI

According to TRAI, the average number of SMSes an Indian mobile subscriber sent has fallen by 7% for GSM and 6% for CDMA operators during the last quarter. An average GSM user sent about 26 SMSes a month in the quarter ended March 08, compared to 28 SMSes a month in the previous quarter (Oct-Dec 07) and 39 in the Jan-March quarter 2007. This is same case in CDMA subscriber also. The number of outgoing SMSes by CDMA customers fell to 16 per month after remaining flat at 17 per month for nearly half year prior to that, at 20 per month in Apr-June and 24 in Jan-March 07.

The Major reason for the decrease in the SMS usage is the drastic reduction in voice call rates in the last one year span. India is witnessing lowest voice call tariff when compared to tariffs in other countries and the market war pushes Telecom operators to reduce further. This is directly reflected in the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Usage of GSM subscibers per month per customer has increased to 493 minutes, compared to 463 minutes six months back.Interestingly outgoing calls usage has grown more than the incoming usage. But the case is different for CDMA. The average usage too has fallen to 364 during Jan-March 2008 from 413 in July - Sep 2007 quarter.