Telephone subscription dips 13 mn in November

The number of telephone subscribers in India decreased to 921.47 million at the end of November, 2012 from 935.18 million at the end of October 2012, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of -1.47%, according to the latest figures released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

" The share of urban subscribers has declined to 62.70% from 63.17% whereas share of rural
subscribers has increased to 37.30% in the month of November 2012. With this, the overall teledensity in India decreased to 75.55 at the end of November, 2012 from 76.75 of the previous month," said TRAI in the statement.

TARI in the statement said, "Subscription in the urban areas decreased from 590.73 million in October, 2012 to 577.78 million at the end of November, 2012. Subscription in rural areas decreasedfrom 344.45 million to 343.69 million during the same period. The monthly growth rate of urban and rural subscription is -2.19%and -0.22% respectively. The overall urban teledensity has decreased from 159.52 to 155.76 and Rural teledensity decreased from 40.61 to 40.49".

"Total wireless subscriber base decreased from 904.23 million in October 2012 to 890.60 million at the end of November 2012, registering a monthly growth of -1.51%. This decline is due to large scale disconnections by some of the service providers. The share of urban wireless subscribers has
decreased from 62.68 % to 62.19% where as share of rural wireless subscribers has increased from 37.32% to 37.81%. The overall wireless teledensity in India has reached 73.02," said TRAI.

Wireless subscription in urban areas decreased from 566.81 million in October 2012 to 553.91 million at the end of November 2012. The wireless subscription in rural areas decreased from 337.42 million to 336.70 million during the same period. The urban wireless teledensity has decreased from 153.06 to 149.32 and rural teledensity has decreased from 39.78 to 39.67.

Private operators hold 88.19% of the wireless market share (based on subscriber base) where as BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU operators hold only 11.81% market share.

Out of the total 890.60 million wireless subscribers, 707.28* million were active on the date of Peak VLR for the month of November 2012. The proportion of VLR subscribers is approximately 79.42% of the total wireless subscriber base reported by the service providers.Circle-wise, Maharashtra has the highest proportion of VLR subscribers with 84.71% followed by Madhya Pradesh (83.93%) and J&K (83.76%); Mumbaihas the lowest proportion with 70.27%. Service Provider wise, Idea leads the tally with 98.06% followed by Vodafone (93.39%).

As per the data reported by the service providers, by the end of November2012 about 77.13 million subscribers have submitted their requests to different service providers for porting their mobile number. In MNP Zone-I (Northern & Western India) maximum number of requests have been received in Rajasthan (7.33 million) followed by Maharashtra (6.67 million) whereas in MNP Zone-II (Southern & Eastern) maximum number of requests have been received in Karnataka (9.62 million) followed by Andhra Pradesh Service area (7.22 million). In the month of November 2012, total number of
subscribers who have submitted their request for MNP is 5.36 million.

Wireline subscriber base declined from 30.95 million at the end of October2012 to 30.87 Million at the end of November 2012. Net reduction in wireline subscriber base was 0.08 million. The share of urban subscribers has increased from 77.29% to 77.34% where as share of rural subscribers has
declined from 22.71% to 22.66%. The overall wireline teledensity has marginally decreased from 2.54 in October 2012 to 2.53 in November 2012,with urban and rural teledensity being 6.44 and 0.82 respectively. BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU operators hold 79.66% of the wireline market share.

Total Broadband subscriber base has increased from 14.81 million at the end of October 2012 to 14.88 million at the end of November 2012, there by showing a monthly growth of 0.47%. Yearly growth in broadband subscribers is 13.33% during the last one year (November 2011 to November 2012).

As on November 30, 2012, there are 159 internet service providers (ISPs) which are providing broadband services in the country. Out of this only 101ISPs have provided data for the month of November 2012, for the rest of the ISPs data from previous month has been retained (Data from top 10 ISPs, which constitute 93.01% of the total subscriber base, have been received for the month of November 2012). Top five ISPs in terms of market share (based on subscriber base) are: BSNL (9.79 million), Bharti Airtel (1.39 million), MTNL(1.08 million), Hathway (0.37 million) and You Broadband (0.29 million).