The number of telephone subscribers in the country decreased to 895.51 million in end-December 2012, from 921.47 million in end-November 2012, registering a monthly growth rate of -2.82 per cent. The share of urban subscribers has declined to 62.20 per cent from 62.70 per cent, while the share of rural subscribers has increased to 37.80 per cent in December 2012.
With this, the overall teledensity in India decreased to 73.34 per cent at the end of December 2012 from 75.55 in the previous month. Meanwhile, the number of subscriptions in urban areas decreased from 577.78 million in November 2012 to 556.96 million in end-December 2012.
Subscriptions in rural areas decreased from 343.69 million to 338.54 million during the same period. The monthly growth rate of urban and rural subscription is -3.60 per cent and -1.50 per cent respectively. The overall urban teledensity has decreased from 155.76 per cent to 149.90 per cent, while rural teledensity decreased from 40.49 per cent to 39.85 per cent.
In the wireless segment, the total wireless subscriber base decreased from 890.60 million in November 2012 to 864.72 million at the end of December 2012, registering a monthly growth of ?2.91 per cent. As per TRAI, this decline can be attributed to the disconnections of inactive SIM cards by a few operators. The share of urban wireless subscribers has decreased from 62.19 per cent to 61.65 per cent, while the share of rural wireless subscribers has increased from 37.81 per cent to 38.35 per cent. The overall wireless teledensity in India has reached 70.82 per cent.
Also, the number of wireless subscriptions in urban areas decreased from 553.91 million in November 2012 to 533.12 million in end-December 2012. Wireless subscriptions in rural areas decreased from 336.70 million to 331.60 million during the same period. The urban wireless teledensity has decreased from 149.32 per cent to 143.48 percent and rural teledensity has decreased from 39.67 per cent to 39.04 per cent.
Private operators account for 87.83 per cent share of the wireless market share (based on subscriber numbers), while Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar telephone Nigam limited (MTNL), accounted for only 12.17 per cent market share.
Of the total 864.72 million wireless subscribers, 701.60 million were active on the date of Peak visitor location register (VLR) in December 2012. The proportion of VLR subscribers is approximately 81.14 per cent of the total wireless subscriber base reported by the service providers. Circle-wise, Madhya Pradesh has the highest proportion of VLR subscribers with 87.20 per cent, followed by Maharshtra (87.04 per cent) and Gujarat (85.79 per cent).
Tamil Nadu (including Chennai) has the lowest proportion with 71.69 per cent. Operator-wise, Idea Cellular leads the pack with 98.22 per cent active users, followed by Bharti Airtel (95 per cent).
The report is attached below.
