The Hindu Business Line : Wireless user base grows; 4.487 cr subscribers added

NEW DELHI: The country added a whopping 4.487 crore wireless telephone users during the quarter ended March 31, 2009, taking the subscriber base to 39.176 crore.

The wireless user base grew by 12.93 per cent during the January-March quarter of this year. In the preceding quarter ended December 2008, the wireless subscriber base was 34.689 crore, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement .

The total telecom subscriber base (wireline and wireless) touched 42.972 crore for the quarter ended March this year from 38.479 crore in the quarter ended December 2008, registering an increase of 11.68 per cent.

The tele-density (number of telephones per 100 people) for the quarter ended March 2009 reached 36.98 as compared to 33.23 in the previous quarter, the TRAI said.

However, the all-India blended Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) per month for the GSM segment decreased by 6.82 per cent to Rs 205 in March 2009 from Rs 220 in December 2008.

While the ARPU for GSM post-paid service declined 2.8 per cent from Rs 559 in December 2008 to Rs 543 in March 2009, ARPU for prepaid service slipped six per cent from Rs 192 in December 2008 to Rs 181 in March 2009.

For the CDMA segment, the all-India blended ARPU per month for the quarter ended March 2009 stood at Rs 99 as against Rs 111 for the quarter ended December 2008. - PTI

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