Total Telephone User Base Rises to 946.4 Million in July: Trai

Total telephone subscriber base in India rose marginally in July to reach 946.4 million, with 3.45 million users added during the month, sectoral regulator Trai said Wednesday.

"The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 942.95 million at the end of June, 2014 to 946.40 million at the end of July, 2014, thereby showing a monthly growth of 0.37 percent," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said.

Urban subscription increased to 562.4 million at the end of July from 559.7 million at the end of June. The rural base was up from 383.1 million, to 383.9 million.

The overall tele-density in the country increased to 76 percent from 75.80 percent at the end of June. The total wireless subscriber base rose 0.42 percent in July to reach 918.7 million at the end of July from 914.9 million last month.

The overall wireless tele-density has increased to 73.78 percent.

"Private operators hold 90.05 percent of the wireless subscriber market share whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU operators hold only 9.95 percent market share," Trai said.

Vodafone added maximum subscribers in July, with 1.36 million new users joining its network to take its base to 171.2 million.

Bharti Airtel added 0.51 million subscribers to take its base to 209.7 million at the end of July, whereas Idea Cellular added 0.11 million users and its overall base stood at 140.1 million in the same period.

Uninor added 0.853 million subscribers to take its base to 40.1 million during the reported period. Reliance Communications added 0.5 million new users and its overall base at the end of July was 109.3 million.

Tata Teleservices added 0.613 million users and its user base now stood at 63.4 million. State-run BSNL lost 1.397 million users during the month and its base has shrunk to 88 million at the end of July.

Aircel added 0.917 million users during the month and its base stood at 73.9 million at the end of July whereas Sistema Shyam Teleservices added 40,840 users during July to take its base to 9.194 million.

"In the month of July, 2014, total number of subscribers who have submitted their request for MNP is 2.86 million," Trai said.

The wireline subscriber base declined from 28 million at the end of June to 27.6 million at the end of July.

"BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU operators hold 76.55 percent of the wireline market share," Trai said.

"As per the reports received from the broadband service providers, number of broadband subscribers increased from 68.83 million at the end of Jun-14 to 70.81 million at the end of Jul-14 with monthly growth rate of 2.87 percent," Trai said.