NEW DELHI More mobile phones are ringing in rural India as compared to the teeming metropolitan cities, DPA quoted newspaper reports as saying on Monday.

According to the *** Economic Times ***, cellular phone penetration in small towns is three to four times higher than in cities like Delhi and Bombay.

More people in southern Indian states like Kerela and Tamil Nadu, the western state of Maharashtra and northern state of Haryana are dialing in as the cellular network grows in rural India.

Delhi is India's biggest mobile phone market, with nearly six lakh users and a penetration level (number of users as a percentage of population) of around four percent. But in small-town Kunnamkulam in Kerela, the penetration rate is already a high 15 percent.

While Bombay has a relatively low penetration level of 2.9 percent, Nammakal in Tamil Nadu has 7.4, Shirdi in Maharashtra 5.7 and Panipat in Haryana has 3.8 percent.

S. Nagarajan, general manager (marketing) of the Batata Consortium which provides services in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh explains: "Pushing mobile phone coverage in smaller towns is what has driven the growth of penetration levels. This especially helps consumers who are into regional and inter-city business."

Nonexistent or bad land line infrastructure is one of the main reasons for this boom in cellular phone use in small towns and villages.

In 1995, there was one telephone for every 100 persons in the country. This figure went up to two per 100 by 1999. On the other hand, the cellular phone industry has registered faster growth. In 1998, there was one mobile phone for 1000 persons.