Telephone subscribers rise to 1,197.75 million in February

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 1,197.75 million at the end of February, from 1,193.25 million January, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.38 per cent, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said on Monday.

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The regulator in its monthly report said the wireline subscribers increased to 33.10 million at the end of February from 32.54 million in January, adding that the net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 0.56 million with a monthly rate of growth of 1.73 per cent. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 91.50 per cent and 8.50 per cent, respectively, at the end of February.

In the wireless segment, subscribers rose to 1,164.64 million in February, which is an increase of 0.34 per cent as compared with 1,160.71 million in the previous month. Wireless subscription in urban areas increased to 636.11 million at the end of February as against 633.96 million in January. Wireless subscription in rural areas also rose to 528.53 million during the same month against 526.75 million in January.

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Bharti Airtel has the maximum proportion of 99.63 per cent of its active wireless subscribers (VLR) as against its total wireless subscribers (HLR) on the date of peak VLR in February and MTNL has the minimum proportion of VLR 25.94 per cent of its HLR during the same period, TRAI said.

As on February 29, the private access service providers held 92.05 per cent market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two public sector units, had a market share of only 7.95 per cent.

MNP requests

TRAI also said that it received a total of 11.54 million requests for mobile number portability till the end of February.

In the broadband category, the total subscribers increased to 916.77 million at the end of February from 911.03 million in January, a monthly growth rate of 0.63 per cent.

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Top five service providers constituted 98.35 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of February. The service providers include Reliance Jio Infocomm with 478.51 million subscribers, Airtel with 269.63 million, Vodafone Idea with 126.56 million, BSNL with 24.67 million and Atria Convergence with 2.24 million.

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