And while we are in the middle of telecom scam, TRAI has released the subscription numbers and Indian telecom subscription base has touched 500 million mark.

• Total Telephone subscriber base has reached 509 Million (Wireless subscription reaches 471.7 Million, Wireline subscription declines to 37.3 Million)
• 14.98 Million new additions in Wireless segment
• Wireline subscription declines by 0.02 Million.
• Overall Tele-density reaches 43.50
• Broadband subscription is 7.21 million

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 509.03 Million at the end of September-09 from 494.07 Million in August-2009, thereby registering a
growth rate of 3.03%. With this, the overall Tele-density in India reaches 43.50. The set target of 500 million telephones by the end of 2010 has been achieved by September 2009.

Please note: Note that telecom operators do inflate numbers and expect a correction when DoT unveils the real story. Moreover, these are not unique subscription numbers.