Telecom subscribers in India decline by 2%, Broadband base stands at 14.68 million

The number of telephone subscribers in India decreased to 944.81 million at the end of July, 2012 from 965.52 million at the end of June 2012, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of -2.14%. The share of
urban subscribers has declined to 63.83% from 64.40% whereas share of rural subscribers has increased to 36.17% in the month of July 2012.

The overall Teledensity in India reached 77.79 at the end of July, 2012 from 79.58 of the previous month.

Key data:

Total wireless subscriber base decreased from 934.09 million in June 2012 to 913.49 million at the end of July 2012, registering a monthly growth of -2.21% (this decline is due to large scale disconnections by Reliance Communications).
The share of urban wireless subscribers has decreased from 63.98 % to 63.37% where as share of rural wireless subscribers has increased from 36.02% to 36.63%. The overall wireless Teledensity in India reached 75.21%.
The wireless subscription in rural areas decreased from 336.51 million to 334.58 million during the same period.

Market share:

Private operators hold 88.60% of the wireless market share (based on subscriber base) where as BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU operators hold only 11.40% market share.

MNP

By the end of July 2012, about 59.31 million subscribers have submitted their requests to different service providers for porting their mobile number. In MNP Zone-I (Northern & Western India) maximum number of requests have been received in Rajasthan (5.63 million) followed by Gujarat (5.34 million) whereas in MNP Zone-II (Southern & Eastern) maximum number of requests have been received in Karnataka (7.19 million) followed by Andhra Pradesh Service area (5.72 million). In the month of July 2012, total number of subscribers who have submitted their request for MNP is 4.98 million.

Wireline Subscribers

Wireline subscriber base declined from 31.43 million at the end of June 2012 to 31.33 Million at the end of July 2012. BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU operators hold 80.02% of the Wireline market share.

Broadband Subscribers

Total Broadband subscriber base has increased from 14.50 million at the end of June 2012 to 14.68 million at the end of July 2012, there by showing a monthly growth of 1.20%.

Broadband market share

Top five ISPs in terms of market share (based on subscriber base) are: BSNL (9.36 million), Bharti Airtel (1.37 million), MTNL (1.08 million), You Broadband (0.66 million) and Hathway (0.37 million).