India's telecom subscriber base declines in May: TRAI

NEW DELHI: The number of telephone subscribers in India declined from 1,059.29 million at the end of Apr-16 to 1,058.03 million at the end of May-16, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of -0.12%,according to Telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

"The urban subscription declined from 607.21 million at the end of Apr-16 to 604.98 million at the end of May-16 whereas the rural subscription increased from 452.08 million to 453.05 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural subscription were -0.37% and 0.22% respectively during the month of May-16," said Telecom regulator.

"The overall Tele-density in India declined from 83.32 at the end of April- 16 to 83.14 at the end of May-16. The Urban Tele-density declined from 153.14 at the end of April-16 to 152.34 at the end of May-16, whereas the Rural Tele-density increased from 51.67 at the end of Apr-16 to 51.75 at the end of May-16," it said.

The share of urban subscribers and rural subscribers in total number of subscribers at the end of May-16 was 57.18% and 42.82% respectively.

Total wireless subscriber base declined from 1,034.25 million at the end of Apr-16 to 1,033.16 million at the end of May-16, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of -0.11%.

The Wireless subscription in urban areas declined from 586.41 million at the end of Apr-16 to 584.25 million at the end of May-16, whereas wireless subscription in rural areas increased from 447.84 million to 448.90 million during the same period.

The monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless subscription were -0.37% and 0.24% respectively.

The Wireless Tele-density in India slightly declined from 81.35 at the end of Apr-16 to 81.18 at the end of May-16.

The Urban Wireless Tele-density declined from 147.90 at the end of Apr-16 to 147.12 at the end of May-16, whereas Rural Wireless Tele-density increased from 51.19 to 51.27 during the same period.

The share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in total number of wireless subscribers was 56.55% and 43.45% respectively at the end of May-16.

As on 31st May, 2016, the private access service providers held 91.11% market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 8.89%.

Active Wireless Subscribers (VLR Data)

Out of the total wireless subscriber base (1,033.16 million), 932.51 million wireless subscribers were active on the date of peak VLR in the month of May-16. The proportion of active wireless subscribers was approximately 90.26% of the total wireless subscriber base.

Mobile Number Portability (MNP)

Intra-service area Mobile number portability (MNP) has been implemented in Haryana service area w.e.f. 25.11.2010 and in the rest of the country w.e.f. 20.01.2011.

Inter-Service Area MNP has been implemented in the country w.e.f. 03.07.2015. Now, the wireless telephone subscribers can retain their mobile numbers when they relocate from one service area to another.

In the month of May-16, a total of 5.23 million requests were received for MNP. With this, the cumulative MNP requests increased from 214.04 million at the end of Apr-16 to 219.27 million at the end of May-16, since the implementation of MNP.

In MNP Zone-I (Northern and Western India), the highest number of requests till date have been received in Rajasthan (about 18.86 million) followed by Gujarat (about 16.55 million).

In MNP Zone-II (Southern and Eastern India), the highest number of requests till date have been received in Karnataka (about 24.28 million) followed by Andhra Pradesh (about 20.67 million).

Wireline Subscribers

Wireline subscriber base declined from 25.04 million at the end of Apr-16 to 24.87 million at the end of May-16. Net decline in the wireline subscriber base was 0.16 million with a monthly decline rate of 0.64%. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers was 83.32% and 16.68% respectively at the end of May-16.

The Overall Wireline Tele-density declined from 1.97 at the end of Apr-16 to 1.95 at the end of May-16. Urban Wireline Tele-density and Rural Wireline Tele-density were workout as 5.22 and 0.47 respectively.

BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, held 71.72% of the wireline market share.

Broadband users 

As per the reports received from the service providers, the number of broadband subscribers increased from 151.09 Million at the end of Apr- 16 to 159.76 million at the end of May-16 with a monthly growth rate of 5.74%.

Top five service providers constituted 84.32% market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of May-16. These service providers were Bharti Airtel (40.80 million), Vodafone (31.55 million), Idea Cellular (25.70 million), BSNL (20.76 million) and Reliance Communications Group (15.91 million).

As on 31st May, 2016, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL (9.89 million), Bharti Airtel (1.79 million), MTNL (1.10 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (0.99 million) and YOU Broadband (0.55 million).

As on 31st May, 2016, the top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Bharti Airtel (39.01 million), Vodafone (31.54 million), Idea Cellular (25.69 million), Reliance Communications Group (15.79 million) and BSNL (10.87 million).