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Our Bureau

New Delhi, April 10 The total subscriber base landline and wireless services surged 9.74 per cent sequentially during the quarter ended December 2007 to reach 272.87 million, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

This number, according to the regulator’s quarterly indicators of Indian telecom services, was against 248.65 million recorded for the preceding quarter ended September 2007. The subscriber base for mobile services increased to 233.62 million in the last quarter from 209.07 million in the preceding quarter, at the cost of landline services which witnessed a decline from 39.58 million (for the September quarter) to 39.25 million (in the December quarter of 2007). The wireless or mobile market grew 11.74 per cent adding 24.54 million subscribers during the quarter. Rural landline subscriber base decreased two per cent to 11.75 million during the period, while wireless subscriber base in rural areas increased 19.42 per cent to 52.52 million during the same period.

The All India blended Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for wireless subscribers (GSM) per month declined by 5.09 per cent from Rs 275 for the quarter ended September 2007 to Rs 261. ARPU for post-paid mobile subscribers (GSM) showed a slight decline of 0.63 per cent to Rs 628 at the end of the year. Decline for prepaid service has been close to five per cent to Rs 219 for the quarter ended December 2007. For CDMA subscribers, the all India blended monthly ARPU stood at Rs 176 compared to Rs 173 for the preceding quarter.

According to TRAI, the number of Internet subscribers also increased to 10.36 million during the period, with the broadband subscriber base reaching 3.13 million. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd remains the largest Internet provider with nearly five million subscribers.

The good news for those who still haven’t been captured by any of the service providers is that the number of Public Call Offices (PCOs) in the country is on the rise. The number of PCOs rose by more than three per cent sequentially to 5.96 million during the same period.

TRAI’s figures for broadcasting and cable services put the number of free-to-air (FTA) and pay channels carried on cable networks at 103 and 95, respectively. Fifteen broadcasters had reported a total of 106 pay channels at the quarter ended December.

There were on the day, 177 FM Radio stations in operation outside of All India Radio. Twenty eight community radio stations are also in operation out of 47 licensees.

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