Telecom operators lost 13.71 million subscribers in November

The number of telephone users fell by 1.47 per cent to 921.47 million as of November 2012 from 935.18 million at the end of October, mainly due to large scale disconnection by certain operators.

This also resulted in pulling down the overall tele-density to 75.55 as of November 2012 from 76.75 recorded during the same period of the previous month, according to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

The share of urban subscribers has declined to 62.70 per cent from 63.17 per cent whereas share of rural subscribers has increased to 37.30 per cent in November.

Wireless user base
The total wireless subscriber base fell 1.51 per cent to 890.60 million during the month under review from 904.23 million in October, following disconnections by some operators. The overall wireless tele-density, or telephones per 100 people, was at 37.81 per cent.

In November, Reliance Communications added 1,08,990 new users taking its total user base to 134.11 million total users as of November, Loop Mobile added 20,805 users taking its total to 3 million, and HFCL 1,35,519 new subscribers, while others witnessed an erosion in user base.

Tata Teleservices lost 4.23 million users as its total user base fell to 72.51 million during the month, while Bharti Airtel – the country's largest mobile operator by subscribers - lost 2.80 million users to its user base of 183.61 million.