Bhubaneswar: The mobile services market in Odisha has slowed down. This is due to the number of new customers. The number of mobile subscribers in the state has increased by only 10,300 in October this year. This is the first time this has happened. All other states in the country have added a lot more new customers than Odisha. The figure comes from a recent report by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRI). The concern is that the state has huge opportunities for the growth of mobile services. Eight out of every 100 people have a mobile phone connection, while 24 still have no access. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi have the highest number of mobile connections in terms of population. Odisha lags far behind in this regard. The reason for the decline in new mobile phone subscribers is not reported in the report. While the world is becoming more and more dependent on the digital world after the corona epidemic, the state of digital connectivity in Odisha is a matter of concern. From online tutoring to Friday video calls, a lot of work is done on mobile phones. Twenty-seven per cent of the people in the state are still deprived of all these opportunities. In the state, state-owned companies Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BS4N8L4), including private companies Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea Mobile, provide services. In October this year, Airtel lost 7,528 customers, Vodafone Idea 21, 100 and BS4N7L6 33,708. As the only company, Geo has added 42,381 new customers. As many customers have dropped out of the mobile network, the number of mobile subscribers has increased by only 10,130 in October compared to September. The state now has 3.33 crore mobile subscribers. Of these, Geo has 1.34 million, 422 subscribers, Airtel has 1.93 million subscribers, Vodafone Idea has 26.79 million subscribers and BS7N8L has 43.28 million subscribers.
