The Hindu Business Line : Internet user base grows 8 pc in Q2

THE subscriber base of Internet Service Providers (ISP) has increased by 8 per cent during the quarter ending in June. The numbers of subscribers has increased from 4.55 million in the previous quarter to 4.93 million, according to the quarterly report from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. The annual growth of this segment (June 2003 to June 2004) is of the order of 30.3 per cent.

The number of `Always-On' high-speed subscribers has reached 2,26,203, showing a growth of 21 per cent over the previous quarter. During the quarter ending June, Internet telephony recorded a usage of 22.04 million minutes. Average minutes of use per month per Internet subscriber was of the order of 400 minutes and the average revenue per users Internet service was around Rs 250.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has the highest number of Internet users with a subscriber base of 12,75,522 against 11,28,172 during the last quarter. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd has moved up to second position from fourth position with a subscriber base of 9,25,062 against 6,00,509.

The subscriber base of the fixed and mobile services put together reached 81.31million at the end of the quarter ending June 2004 from 76.73 million in March 2004, an increase of around 6.25 per cent during the quarter.

The subscribers of fixed service increased from 42.84 million to 43.51 million and that for mobile services moved up from 33.69 million to 37.8 million during the quarter.

The number of village public telephones added during the quarter was 6,956 making cumulative total of 5.29 lakh VPTs in the country, thus covering more than 86 per cent of the total number of villages. The number of PCOs in the country increased to 20,67,287 registering a growth of about 7.4 per cent during the quarter.