Data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) shows that 18.98 million mobile phone subscribers were added in October, taking the total number of connections to 706.69 million. The wireless phone user base grew 2.76 percent to 706.69 million in October from 687.71 million in the previous month.
With this, the total telephone subscriber base in the country, both wireless and wireline connections combined, touched 742.12 million. The overall teledensity reached 62.51 percent.
The growth in India’s wireless phone category was led by Bharti Airtel, which added three million users to take its subscriber base to 146 million users. Vodafone Essar added 2.49 million new subscribers that raised its subscriber base to 118 million, while new telecom player Uninor added 2.48 million connections to reach 13.74 milion subscribers.
Also, the broadband subscriber base grew 2.24 percent from 10.29 million in September to 10.52 million in October 2010. The wireline segment, on the other hand declined from 35.57 million in September 2010 to 35.43 million at the end of October 2010.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) have 83.31 percent of the wireline market share.
