The boom just got bigger in the Indian telecom market. With the addition of 15.64 million mobile subscribers in March 2009, the sector not only topped its own previous high of 15 million additions in January 2009, it also set the global record for adding the maximum number of users in a single month.
The number of telephone connections in the country (mobile and landline) crossed 429 million in March 2009, up from 413.85 million in February 2009. The overall teledensity reached 36.98 per cent from 35.65 per cent in February 2009.
As expected, this growth was entirely driven by the upsurge in mobile telephony. According to recent figures released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the mobile segment accounts for close to 92 per cent of the country’s telecom market. The total wireless subscriber base (GSM, CDMA and WLL [fixed]) stood at 391.76 million at the end of March 2009 as against 376.12 million a month ago.
According to analysts, while industries around the world have been feeling the heat of the global economic slowdown, India’s telecom sector has been steadily pursuing an upward trajectory. The unabated growth is primarily the result of operators expanding to smaller towns and villages, which offer the next level of growth, as well as attractive and low-tariff package.
Along with record subscriber additions, March also saw Vodafone Essar moving ahead of Bharti Airtel in subscriber additions for the first time. As against Bharti Airtel’s 2.81 million additions, Vodafone Essar garnered 2.85 million new users, as a result of which its user base increased to nearly 69 million. The operator that attracted the maximum number of subscribers in March was Reliance Communications (RCOM) at over 3.2 million new users (GSM and CDMA). RCOM’s subscriber base at endMarch was 72.7 million.
Another important development in March, according to TRAI’s statistics, was an increase in the landline user base for the first time in 12 months. The wireline subscriber base increased to 37.96 million from 37.73 million in February 2009, a marginal increase of 0.23 million.
Both Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited registered an increase of 117,004 and 59,057 in their landline user base respectively in March. According to officials from the two companies, one of the reasons for the rise was new subscribers signing up for broadband and internet protocol TV services. Both the state-run operators have lowered tariffs and introduced new schemes and incentives to stymie the bleed in the fixed line segment.
The broadband sector too, according to TRAI, recorded positive growth. According to the TRAI release, the broadband subscriber base reached 6.22 million by the end of March 2009, as compared to 5.85 million at the end of February 2009.
