Indian telephone users base rises to 892.55 million: TRAI

The latest data shows the number of telephone subscribers in India rose 0.74 per cent to 892.55 million as on 31 July 2011, from 885.99 million at the end of June 2011.

With this, the overall teledensity rose to 74.44 in July, from 73.97 recorded during the preevious month.  
   
The country's mobile operators - GSM, CDMA and FWP - added a net 6.67 million mobile subscribers in July, or a 0.78 per cent sequential growth from that a month ago.

The share of urban mobile subscribers declined marginally to 66.27 per cent from 66.36 per cent while the share of rural subscribers increased marginally from 33.64 per cent to 33.73 per cent, reveals data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
   
The total mobile connections, across all the 22 circles, rose to 858.37 million during the month under review, from 851.70 million in June. The country's overall wireless tele-density stood at 71.59 during the review period, data from sector regulator showed.
   
Wireless subscription in urban areas increased to 565.71 million at the end of July 2011, from 562.12 million in June 2011. The country's rural subscription rose to 292.65 million from 289.57 million period. 
   
Mobile telecom additions were higher in the rural segment at 1.05 per cent, compared with 0.64 per cent in the urban areas. The urban wireless tele-density has increased to 156.59 from 155.96 and rural teledensity increased to 34.92 from 34.58.

   
Private operators hold 88.27 per cent of the wireless market share whereas the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) hold only 11.73 per cent market share.
   
VLR data
Out of the total  858.37 million subscribers, 601.73 million subscribers were active subscribers on the date of peak visitor location register (VLR) for July 2011.

VLR is a temporary database of the subscribers who have roamed into the particular area, which it serves. The total active VLR number excludes BSNL's CDMA VLR figures .
The proportion of VLR users is about 70.65 per cent of the total wireless subscriber base reported by the service providers. 
   
Circle-wise, Jammu & Kashmir has the highest proportion of VLR users with 81.98 per cent followed by Assam (78.25 per cent) and Maharashtra (76.08 per cent); Mumbai has the lowest proportion with 58.81 per cent.
   
Service provider wise, Idea Cellular leads the VLR tally with 93.31 per cent followed by Bharti Airtel with 89.86 per cent, with Videocon at the bottom with 33.84 per cent.
   
Mobile number portability
As of July-end, about 155.48 lakh (15.54 million) users submitted requests to different service providers for porting their mobile number.
   
Out of these requests, around 8.67 lakh (8,67,000) are from Haryana, where MNP was implemented from 25 November 2010.

In MNP Zone-I (northern and western India), the maximum number of requests were from Gujarat (1.55 million) followed by Maharashtra (1.26 million).
   
In MNP Zone-II (southern and eastern India), the maximum number of requests were from Karnataka (1.19 million) followed by Andhra Pradesh (1.17 million).
   
Wireline segment
The country's wIreline subscriber base declined to 34.18 million in July 2011 from 34.29 million in June.

The share of urban subscriber has marginally increased to 75.40 per cent from 75.29 per cent, whereas the share of rural subscribers has marginally declined to 24.60 per cent from 24.71 per cent.
   
The overall wireline tele-density in India marginally declined to 2.85 with urban and rural teledensity being 7.14 and 1.00, respectively. BSNL and MTNL hold 82 per cent of the Wireline market share.
   
The total broadband users rose 1.46 per cent to 12.50 million in July 2011 from 12.32 million in June 2011. Broadband band is defined as internet with speed equal to or above 256 KBPS.