India’s telephone subscriber base swells to 926.5 million as of end-December 2011

India added 19.5 million telephone subscribers in the October-December 2011 quarter, taking the total telephone subscriber base in the country to 926.5 million at the end of December 2011, against 907 million as of end-September 2011.

This represents a year-on-year growth of 17.69 per cent over the same quarter last year and a quarter-over-quarter growth of 2.16 per cent during the October-December 2011 quarter. Telephone subscriber base had grown 2.36 per cent in the July-September 2011 quarter.

The overall tele density in India reached 76.86 as of 31 December 2011, as per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

According to the Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report for the quarter ending December 2011, released on Friday, the number of telephone subscribers in urban areas grew to 611.19 million as of end December 2011, from 601.72 million at the end of September 11, taking the urban teledensity to 167.85, from 166.01.

Rural subscriptions increased to 315.33 million from 305.51 million, and the rural teledensity increased to 37.48 from 36.40. The share of rural areas in total subscription has increased to 34.03 per cent as of end-December 2011 from 33.69 per cent at the end of September 2011.

Urban areas accounted for about 49.87 per cent of the total net additions in October-December 2011, compared to 64.37 per cent in the previous quarter. Rural subscription growth rate increased to 3.22 per cent in October-December 2011 quarter from 2.50 per cent in the July-September 2011 quarter while urban subscription growth rate declined to 1.66 per cent from 2.29 per cent in July-September 2011.