March adds 8 mn mobile subscribers

India added 8 million mobile subscribers in the month of March,2012 taking the total telephone user base upto 951.34 million, according to Trai's telecom subscription data.

Total wireless subscriber base increased from 911.17 million in February 2012 to 919.17 million at the end of March 2012, registering a growth of 0.88%.

However, of the total 919.17 million wireless subscribers, only 683.02 million subscribers were active subscribers on the date of peak visitor location register (VLR).

Bharti Airtel alone counted 2.5 million of the 8 million new subscribers followed by Idea (25.15% net additions) and Uninor (16.13%).

The share of urban wireless subscriber has decreased from 65.20% to 64.83% where as share of rural wireless subscribers has increased from 34.80% to 35.17%. Overall teledensity in India reached 78.66 percent.

Wireline subscriber base declined from 32.33 million at the end of February
2012 to 32.17 million at the end of March 2012. The share of urban subscribers has increased from 76.43% to 76.54% where as share of rural subscribers has declined from 23.57% to 23.46%.

Total broadband subscriber base has increased from 13.54 million at the end of February 2012 to 13.79 million at the end of March 2012, there by showing a monthly growth of 1.86%.

The total number of subscribers who have submitted their request for MNP is 4.76 million in the month of March 2012.