Telephone subscriber base down 0.70% at 899.86 million in September

The number of telephone subscribers in India declined from 906.18 million at the end of August 2013 to 899.86 million at the end of September 2013, a fall of 0.70 per cent, data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority on Tuesday showed.

The share of urban subscribers declined from 60.57 per cent to 60.36 per cent in September 2013 whereas the share of rural subscribers increased from 39.43 per cent to 39.64 per cent during the month. The overall teledensity in India has declined from 73.60 at the end of August 2013 to 73.01 at the end of September 2013.

The number of subscribers in the urban areas declined from 548.90 million in August 2013 to 543.18 million at the end of September 2013. Subscription in rural areas declined from 357.27 million to 356.68 million during the period.

The monthly declining rates of urban and rural subscription stood at 1.04 per cent and 0.17 per cent, respectively. The overall urban teledensity has declined from 145.78 to 144.02 and rural teledensity decreased from 41.80 to 41.70 during the month.

Total wireless subscriber base in the country decreased from 876.72 million in August 2013 to 870.58 million at the end of September 2013, registering a decline of 0.70 per cent from the previous month.

The share of urban wireless subscribers has declined from 59.98 per cent to 59.75 per cent whereas the share of rural wireless subscribers has increased from 40.02 per cent in August to 40.25 per cent in September.

The overall wireless teledensity in India has declined to 70.63 in September 2013, from 71.21 in the previous month.

Wireless subscription in urban areas decreased from 525.84 million in August 2013 to 520.21 million at the end of September 2013. wireless subscription in rural areas decreased from 350.88 million to 350.37 million during the period. The urban wireless teledensity has decreased from 139.65 to 137.93 and rural teledensity from 41.05 to 40.96.

Private operators held 88.33 per cent of the wireless market share (based on subscriber base) where as state-run BSNL and MTNL had only 11.67 per cent market share in September 2013.

Out of the total 870.58 million wireless subscribers, 738.89 million were active on the date of peak VLR in September 2013. The proportion of VLR subscribers is approximately 84.87 per cent of the total wireless subscriber base reported by the service providers.

Service provider wise, Idea leads the tally with 97.19 per cent, followed by Vodafone (95.71 per cent) and Bharti (95.26 per cent).

Circle-wise, Maharashtra has the highest proportion of VLR subscribers with 90.99 per cent, followed by Assam (89.85 per cent) and MP (88.53 per cent). TN (including Chennai) had the lowest proportion with 74.41 per cent.

Wireline subscriber base declined from 29.46 million at the end of August 2013 to 29.28 million at the end of September 2013.

Net reduction in wireline subscriber base was 0.17 million, at the rate of 0.59 per cent. The share of urban wireline subscribers has increased from 78.31 per cent to 78.44 per cent whereas share of rural subscribers has decreased from 21.69 per cent to 21.56 per cent.

The overall wireline teledensity decreased from 2.39 in August 2013 to 2.38 in September 2013. Urban and rural wireline teledensity levels stood at 6.09 and 0.74, respectively.

State-run service providers, BSNL and MTNL together held 78.24 per cent of the wireline market.

Broadband
Total number of broadband subscribers (= 256 Kbps download) increased from 15.28 million at the end of August 2013 to 15.36 million at the end of September 2013, showing a growth of 0.52 per cent.

The number of broadband subscribers increased by 1.90 per cent during the last one year (September 2012 to September 2013).

As of 30 September 2013, there were 158 internet service providers (ISPs) providing broadband services in the country. Top five ISPs in terms of market share (based on subscriber base) are: BSNL (9.98 million), Bharti Airtel (1.44 million), MTNL (1.10 million), Hathway (0.37 million) and You Broadband (0.33 million).

Mobile number portability
As per the data reported by the service providers, by the end of September 2013 about 102.49 million subscribers have submitted their requests to different service providers for porting their mobile number.

In MNP Zone-I (northern and western India) the maximum number of requests were received in Rajasthan (about 10.15 million) followed by Gujarat (about 8.86 million) whereas in MNP Zone-II (Southern and Eastern) the maximum number of requests came from Karnataka (about 11.84 million) followed by the Andhra Pradesh Service area (about 9.30 million).

The number of subscribers who have submitted their request for MNP in September 2013 stood at 2.29 million while requests for MNP have increased from 100.20 million subscribers at the end of August 2013 to 102.49 million at the end of September 2013.

Active wireless subscribers on the date of peak VLR stood at 738.89 million (84.87 per cent of the total subscribers) in September 2013.

Broadband subscription reached 15.36 million in September 2013 from 15.28 million in August 2013.