The Indian wireless market is the fastest growing market in the world. In August 2007 an additional 8.3 Million wireless customers, including CDMA, GSM, and cellular (wireless) in WLL (F) or local loop (fixed) were added.   The wireless market has grown from   the 80 million wireless subscribers in January 2006 to 200 million by August 2007. According to Gartner estimates s 58 percent of the rural population and 95 percent of the urban population will be covered by mobile networks by 2011. The total number of mobile connections in India will have increased to more than 462 million by 2011.

However, the defining features of the Indian telecom market is limited coverage/capacity and a significant unserved addressable market. Most of the existing subscriber base is concentrated in the major metros, which have significant potential but limited spectrum. In contrast, there is very little telecom infrastructure in rural India and plenty of spectrum.

For the next few years, the focus will be on an accelerated roll-out of services in rural and semi-urban areas. This will require a different the network design due to lower population density. With spectrum allocation being a constraint (10 MHz spectrum for 2 mn subscribers), there will be a need for a much denser tower location to ensure minimum service standards. There are at least two operators rolling out in rural areas at 1800 MHz spectrum, requiring 2-3 times more towers than in 900 MHz.

As the number of cellular subscribers grows from 200 million to 462 million, it is estimated that over 240,000 towers will be needed by 2011.