The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is mulling ways to arrive at a mechanism to determine the ‘unique mobile subscriber base’ in the country, according to a senior official.

The latest Trai data pegs India’s total wireless subscriber base at 1,161.8 million as on March 31, 2019, while the wireless teledensity stands at 88.46.

This subscriber number, however, does not give the exact picture of those connected or unconnected as it takes into account multiple SIMs and phone connections.

The official, who did not wish to be named, noted that the whole idea is to identify the number of people who are unconnected, and added that the exercise would culminate in finding ways to determine the ‘unique’ subscribers or those connected.

“Today, the subscriber base is counted based on the number of SIMs issued, but one subscriber may have multiple SIMs. We are mulling ways to determine correctly the number of people who are actually connected or unique subscribers, and it is a complex issue,” the official added.

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