India’s telecom subscriber base down 42.19 mn at 895.51 mn in Q4 of 2012

The number of telephone subscribers in India declined by 42.19 million to 895.51 million at the end of December 2012, from 937.70 million at the end of September 2012, registering a negative growth of 4.50 per cent over the previous quarter ended 30 September 2012.

The decline in number of subscribers was down 3.35 per cent year-on-year compared to the similar quarter of the previous year, data release by the sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) showed.

The overall teledensity in India has declined to 73.34 as of 31 December 2012 from 77.04 as on 30 September 2012.

Subscription in urban areas declined to 556.96 million at the end of December 2012 from 595.69 million at the end of September 2012 while teledensity in urban areas declined to 149.90 from 161.13.

Rural subscriber base decreased to 338.54 million from 342.01 million and teledensity declined to 39.85 from 40.36.

Share of rural areas in total subscription increased to 37.80 per cent at the end of December 2012 from 36.47 per cent at the end of September 2012.

Wireless subscriber base (GSM+CDMA) declined the most with their numbers coming down by 41.90 million to 864.72 million at end-December 2012 from 906.62 million at the end-September 2012.

Wireless subscriber numbers declined by 3.26 per cent between September and December 2012 while teledensity decreased to 70.82 from 74.49 between September and December 2012.

Wireline subscriber base also declined to 30.79 million at the end of December 2012 from 31.08 million at the end of September 2012, bringing down the wireline teledensity to 2.52 at the end of December 2012 from 2.55 at the end of September 2012.

The number of internet subscribers, however, increased by 5.49 per cent to 25.33 million at the end of December 2012, from 24.01 million at the end of September 2012.

Top 10 internet service providers (ISPs) together hold 95.42 per cent of the total Internet subscriber base.

Number of broadband subscribers increased by 2.02 per cent to 14.98 million at the end of December 2012 from 14.68 million at the end of September 2012. Their numbers rose 12/23 per cent year-on-year during the quarter.

Share of broadband subscription in total internet subscription, however, decreased to 59.15 per cent at the end of December 2012 from 61.16 per cent at the end of September 2012.

About 84.82 per cent of the broadband subscribers in the country are using digital subscriber line (DSL) technology.