Bangalore, India ― Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and code-division multiple access (CDMA) wireless technologies are facing off in India, where phones have penetrated only about 5 percent of the total available market but where increasing competition, expanded services, falling prices and a more liberalized government telecom policy are said to be generating record growth. In each of the past three months, the number of GSM subscribers in India has increased by 1 million. CDMA subscribers have increased by the same number for the past two months. GSM subscribers totaled 18 million at the end of September, considerably more than the number of CDMA customers, which industry experts estimated are at one-fifth of GSM subscribers, but rising daily. The surge in wireless services is largely attributable to the market entrance of the Reliance Group, India's largest private industrial house, known for both its hard-nosed business tactics and reputed political clout. The market hasn't been the same since Reliance, whose group revenue accounts for nearly 3.5 percent of India's GDP, started offering CDMA-based service. That move sparked quick expansion by competitors using the same technology and by GSM operators as well.
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