The Hindu Business Line : 8.2 million new phone users in Nov

New Delhi, Dec. 24 Telecom operators added 8.22 million new subscribers in November taking the total number of telephone connections in the country to 264.77 million.

The overall tele-density is now 23.21 per cent compared with 22.52 per cent in October, according to numbers released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

The growth is primarily driven by a record number of new wireless subscribers.

Record addition

Both GSM and CDMA operators together added 8.32 million new subscribers, which is the highest-ever monthly addition till now. This takes the total wireless subscribers base to 225.46 million at the end of November 2007.

Interestingly, the prolonged battle for spectrum is not taking away the steam from the cellular sector.

A report from a panel set up by the Communications Ministry, released last week, pointed out that even without any additional spectrum, operators can add nearly 300 million subscribers with the current allotment of radio waves.

The reason for that, according to the report, is though there is a spectrum crunch in big cities and metros, the rural and semi-urban areas have lots of unutilised radio waves. The report said that the growth will continue to happen in these areas where the operators are facing no shortage of spectrum and can pack in many more users.

Fixed line numbers

However, the wire line telephone sector continues to be disappointing as subscribers are surrendering their phones.

Fixed line telephone user base has decreased to 39.31 million in November compared with 39.41 million subscribers in October. Market experts had predicted that fixed line telephones would pick up once broadband is rolled out in a big way. Total broadband subscribers base has reached 2.87 million by the end of November as against 2.69 million in October.