India's telephone subscriber base swells by 14.25 million in July

Total telephone subscriber base in the country increased by 14.25 million to reach 479.04 million in July 2009. India made 14.38 million new additions in wireless telephone subscriptions while wireline subscription in the country declined by 0.13 million.

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 479.07 million at the end of July-09 from a level of 464.82 million in June-2009, thereby registering a growth rate of 3.06 per cent. With this, the overall tele-density in India reaches 41.08.

Wireless subscriber base (GSM, CDMA & FWP) increased from 427.28 million in June-2009 to 441.66 million at the end of July-09 at a monthly growth rate of 3.36 per cent. Wireless tele-density stood at 37.87.

Wireline subscriber base declined from 37.54 million in June-2009 to 37.41 million at the end of July-09. BSNL/MTNL, the PSU operators own 85.99 per cent of the market share.

While major private wireline service providers have increased their subscriber base, BSNL/MTNL lost 0.17 million subscribers in the month of July-09. Wireline teledensity stood at 3.21.

Total broadband subscriber base has increased to 6.80 million in July-09 from 6.62 million in June-09, thereby showing a growth rate of 2.7  per cent.

Metros recorded lower growth rate while the Circle 'C' areas reported higher growth rate, reflecting the service penetration levels.

Subscription levels at 'C' category circles continues to witness higher growth rate indicating growing penetration in these areas.