By Telecom Lead Team: Net addition of
telephone subscribers including wireless and landline users in India has
plummeted to 20.94 million in quarter ended September 2011 from 51.59 million
in the same quarter previous year.
The decrease in growth was 59.4 percent
during the period.
Net addition of telecom users was 39.67
million in quarter ended June 2011, 59.04 million in March 2011 and 64 million
in December 2010.
However, the total number of telephone
subscribers in India increased from 885.99 million at the end of June 2011 to
906.93 million at the end of September 2011, registering a growth of 2.36
percent over the previous quarter as against 4.69 percent during the QE June
2011. This reflects year-on-year growth of 25.39 percent over the same quarter
of last year.
The overall teledensity in India has
reached 75.48 as on 30th September 2011, according to TRAI.
Total wireless (GSM + CDMA) subscriber base
increased from 851.70 million at the end of June 2011 to 873.61 million at the
end of September 2011, showing a growth of 2.57 percent. During this quarter
21.92 million subscribers were added. The year-on-year growth rate of wireless
subscribers for September 2011 is 27.03 percent. Wireless teledensity increased
from 71.11 to 72.70.
Rural subscription grew at the rate of 2.73
percent in QE Sep-11 as against 5.86 percent in QE June 2011 and urban
subscription grew at the rate of 2.49 percent as against 4.48 percent in the
previous quarter. The share of rural wireless subscription increased to 34.05
percent in total wireless subscription, according to TRAI.
Wireline subscriber base declined from
34.29 million at the end of June 2011 to 33.31 million at the end of September
2011. Wireline teledensity is 2.77. Rural subscriber base has shown y-o-y
decline of 12.17 percent, from 9.13 million at the end of September 2010 to
8.02 million at the end of September 2011. During the same period, urban
subscription recorded decline rate of 4.33 percent.
