India’s telecom subscriber base reaches 670.60 million in August

Telecom service providers in the country added 18.18 million new subscribers in August this year, taking the overall number of mobile users in the country to 670.60 million, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) yesterday said.

The wireless subscriber base increased from 652.42 million in July 2010, to 670.60 million by the end of August, 2010- a growth of 2.79 per cent.

The growth rate is in line with research firm Gartner's 2008 forecast that India's wireless subscriber base is set to exceed 737 million connections by 2012 growing at a CAGR of 21 per cent in the same period. (See: India's wireless population to exceed 737 million connections by 2012)

The total number of telephone subscribers, including the mobile and the landline, increased to 706.37 million by August-end from 688.38 million in July.

With this, the overall teledensity (telephones per 100 people) in India reached 59.63 per cent.

However, TRAI said that the wireline subscriber base declined to 35.77 million in August, 2010, from 35.96 million at July-end. (See: Telephone subscriber base in India swells to 688.38 million; tele-density reaches 58.17)