India’s teledensity reaches 47.89 per cent

The total number of people using telephones, including both wireline and wireless, has touched 47.89 per cent of the total population in the country, while wireless tele-density stands at 44.73 per cent, says the ministry of communications and information technology in a a statement released yesterday.

The total telephone subscriber base in India reached 562.21 million as on 31 December 2009, u p 3.5 per cent from 543.20 million at the end of November, the ministry said.

Of these, wireless subscription reached 525.15 million, up  3.78 per centfrom 506.04 million in November, while the wireline subscription declines to 37.06 million from 37.16 million in November, the data released by the ministry shows.

Tata Teleservices was the biggest grosser in the wireless space in December by adding a hefty 3.33 million new subscribers, while the market leader Bharti Airtel came second with 2.85 million new user additions.

Reliance Communications added 2.81 million, and Vodafone added 2.8 million users in the reporting month.

Idea Cellular added 1.71 million users, while Aircel added 1.67 million users in December, and the state-run telcos BSNL and MTNL added 2.08 million and 0.06 million users, respectively in the month.