Phone subscriber base crosses 500-m mark

Growing numbers: India is the second country after China to reach this milestone

The number of telephone subscribers in India has increased to 509.03 million at the end of September with nearly 15 million subscribers being added in the month. This beats the Government’s target of 500 million users by 2010-end.

Tele-density

India is the second country after China to reach this milestone.

With this, the overall tele-density in the country has reached 43.50 . Wireless subscriber base increased from 456.74 million in August to 471.73 million at the end of September, a growth of 3.28 per cent.

Mobile operators offering per second billing has contributed to the surge in subscriber numbers. Wireless tele-density stands at 40.31. Wireline subscriber base declined from 37.33 million in August to 37.31 million in September.

This is mainly on account of reduction in the subscriber base of BSNL/MTNL, which lost 0.06 million in September. The two PSU operators hold 85.67 per cent of the wireline market share. The overall wireline tele-density is 3.19.

Broadband subscription

The total broadband subscriber base has increased from 6.98 million in August to 7.22 million in September, thereby showing a growth of 3.29 per cent.

Broadband subscription is expected to get a boost once the Government auctions spectrum for 3G and broadband wireless access services early next year.

Courtesy: The BusinessLine