Indian cellphone subscribers increase 1.7 million in Feb

India, one of the world's fastest growing markets for mobile phones, has signed up nearly 19 million new users in the past year, the government said.

The figure reflects booming demand fuelled by a growing middle class and price cuts by service providers, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said on Monday.

India added almost 1.7 million new subscribers in February, bringing the total number of mobile phones in use to 31.67 million, the authority said.

A year earlier, the number was 12.87 million. Teledensity, the extent of phone usage per 100 people, increased to 7.2 from 5.11 a year earlier, it added.

The Cellular Operators Association of India, a trade body representing most mobile phone companies, expects the number of mobile phones to exceed land-line phones in India by year end.

India currently has about 42 million land-based phones. Though one of the world's fastest growing markets for mobile phones, India still lags far behind China and the United States, where number of mobile phones in use last year totalled 200 million and 140 million respectively.