Thanks to mobile operators’ efforts to tackle unexploited rural markets in India, India will reach 500 million users by the year 2012 reports the India Times.

Currently there are roughly 380 million mobile phone users in India; the Mobile Marketing Association believes over the next 3 years a further 120 million mobile phone users will be added to that total.

Rohit Dadwal, the Mobile Marketing Association’s Managing Director for Asia Pacific believes that with such numbers India is potentially a lucrative market for mobile advertisers and that global spend on advertising and marketing has reached $500 billion.