India’s telephone subscriber base swells to over 951 million as of end-March 2012

The number of telephone subscribers in the country increased to 951.34 million at the end of March 2012, from 926.53 million at the end of December 2011, recording a growth of 2.68 per cent against the 2.16 per cent growth posted in the previous quarter, ie, quarter ended December 2011.

The overall teledensity in India has reached 78.66 as of 31 March 2012, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a release today.

Subscription in urban areas grew to 620.52 million at the end of March 2012, from 611.19 million at the end of December 2011, taking the urban teledensity to 169.55 from 167.85.

Rural subscription base increased to 330.82 million, from 315.33 million while rural teledensity increased to 39.22 from 37.48. The share of rural areas in total subscription has increased from to 34.77 per cent as of March 2012, from 34.03 per cent at the end of December 2011.

Urban areas accounted for about 37.61 per cent of the total net additions during the quarter compared to 49.87 per cent in the previous quarter. Rural subscription growth rate increased to 4.91 per cent during the quarter ended March 2012, from 3.22 per cent in the quarter ended December 2011.

Urban subscription growth rate declined to 1.53 per cent during the quarter ended March 2012 from 1.63 per cent in the quarter ended December 2011.