Telephone subscribers in India rises to 1,204.98 million in May

NEW DELHI: The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,198.89 million at the end of April to 1,204.98 million at the end of May, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.51%, according to latest report of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The urban subscription increased from 695.99 million at the end of April to 697.06 million at the end of May, and the rural subscription increased from 502.90 million to 507.92 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural subscription were 0.15% and 1.00% respectively during the month of May.

The overall Tele-density in India increased from 93.23 at the end of Apr-17 to 93.61 at the end of May. The Urban Tele-density remained same at 172.28 at the end of May as against previous month, whereas the Rural Tele-density also increased from 57.02 at the end of April to 57.55 at the end of May.

The share of urban subscribers and rural subscribers in total number of telephone subscribers at the end of May was 57.85% and 42.15% respectively.

Wireless Subscribers

Total wireless subscribers (GSM,CDMA & LTE) increased from 1,174.60 million at the end of Apr to 1,180.82 million at the end of May, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.53%.

The Wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 675.48 million at the end of April to 676.65 million at the end of May, and wireless subscription in rural areas also increased from 499.12 million to 504.18 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless subscription were 0.17% and 1.01% respectively.

The Wireless Tele-density (%) in India increased from 91.34 at the end of April to 91.74 at the end of May-17. The Urban Wireless Tele-density slightly increased from 167.21 at the end of April to 167.24 at the end of May, and Rural Wireless Tele-density increased from 56.59 to 57.12 during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in total number of wireless subscribers was 57.30% and 42.70% respectively at the end of May.

As on 31st May, 2017, the private access service providers held 90.96% market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 9.04%.

Active Wireless Subscribers (VLR Data)

Out of the total wireless subscribers (1,180.82 million), 1,019.55 million wireless subscribers were active on the date of peak VLR in the month of May. The proportion of active wireless subscribers was approximately 86.34% of the total wireless subscriber base.

Jammu & Kashmir service areas showed maximum growth rate in wireless subscriber during the month of May-17. Mumbai and Gujarat service areas showed decline rate in wireless subscribers during the same period.

Mobile Number Portability (MNP)

Intra-service area Mobile number portability (MNP) was implemented first 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.

During the month of May, a total of 5.37 million requests were received for MNP. With this, the cumulative MNP requests increased from 277.72 million at the end of Apr-17 to 283.09 million at the end of May-17, 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 23.82 million) followed by Gujarat (about 20.28 million).

In MNP Zone-II (Southern and Eastern India), the highest number of requests till date have been received in Karnataka (about 30.86 million) followed by Andhra Pradesh (about 25.49 million).

Wireline subscribers declined from 24.30 million at the end of April to 24.16 million at the end of May. Net decline in the wireline subscriber base was 0.14 million with a monthly decline rate of 0.57%. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 84.50% and 15.50% respectively at the end of May.

The Overall Wireline Tele-density (%) declined from 1.89 at the end of April to 1.88 at the end of May. Urban and Rural Wireline Tele- density were 5.05 and 0.42 respectively during the same period.

BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, held 69.60% of the wireline market share.

Broadband

As per the reports received from the service providers, the number of broadband subscribers increased from 284.23 Million at the end of Apr to 291.61 million at the end of May with a monthly growth rate of 2.60%.

Top five service providers constituted 88.23% market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of May-17. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd (117.34 million), Bharti Airtel (53.30 million), Vodafone (40.43 million), Idea Cellular (24.63 million) , BSNL (21.59 million) and Reliance Communications (14.46 million).

As on 31st May, 2017, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL (9.80 million), Bharti Airtel (2.09 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (1.20 million), MTNL (0.99 million) and YOU Broadband (0.64 million).