Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Sep 09, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Sep 09, 2003 |
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Info-Tech
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Telecommunications `Reliance leads WLL market' Our Bureau
New Delhi , Sept. 8 THE limited mobility (WLL) subscriber base of private basic operators has touched close to four million across the country, with Reliance Infocomm accounting for a major chunk of this market at 3.5 million by end-August. As per the latest figures released by the Association of Basic Telecom Operators (ABTO), the private operators have added over seven lakh WLL customers during the month against 1.1 million added by the private cellular operators. On the whole, the basic operators have under their belt, 8.86 lakh wireline, 3.96 fixed wireless and 39.12 lakh limited mobility subscribers taking their total tally to 51.95 lakh subscribers across the country. While Reliance has a total of 35.62 lakh subscribers, Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) is next with 9.55 lakh and Bharti at 4.68 lakh subscribers. The other two private basic operators have a lower tally with HFCL Infotel having managed 1.12 lakh customers in Punjab and Shyam Telelink 0.95 lakh in Rajasthan. The disaggregated figures show that Reliance has 160 wireline and 0.22 lakh fixed wireless customers. TTSL has 3.22 lakh wireline, 3.17 lakh fixed wireless and 3.15 lakh WLL customers. Bharti has 4.39 lakh wireline and 0.29 lakh fixed wireless subscriber (it does not have a presence in the WLL space). According to a statement from ABTO, the WLL service figures exclude the subscriber additions by the two public sector undertakings Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL). "The figures indicate the huge potential market available across the country which has largely been untapped till date. "Service providers are coming out with innovative schemes with low entry costs to enable new users to subscribe to their services. The unified licensing regime which is presently under a consultation process with the TRAI would help in reducing costs, the benefits of which will ultimately reach the consumer. This will propel growth in telecom services which has been unprecedented in our country," the statement noted. Given the past five months performance, the industry can expect to add over 20 million telephones by the end of this fiscal, it added.
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