Aided by contributions from the private sector's mobile segment, the country's tele-density increased marginally to 7.49 per cent during the first quarter ending June 30 pushing the total telecom customer base to 8.1 crore (81 million).
The industry added 16 lakh (1.6 million) subscribers in the Q1 taking the number of phones added during the quarter (April-June) to 44.8 lakh (4.48 million), up from 40.8 lakh (4.08 million) phones added in the corresponding period last year, an official statement said.
Over 90 per cent of the new phone additions were mobiles and its share rose to over 46 per cent of the total connections which is about 3.78 crore (37.8 million).
The private sector has contributed over 88 per cent or 39.4 lakh (3.94 million) phones during Q1 of the 44.8 lakh (4.48 million) additions.
The growth of connectivity at rural level showed a distinct improvement with the total number of VPTs (village public telephony) at 5.21 lakh (521,000) and rural DELs (direct exchange lines) at 124.47 lakh (12.44 million) as on June 2004.
During Q1, government also reduced the performance bank guarantee from Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) to Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) for national long distance operators, while the licence fee for IP-II providers were also reduced to six per cent from 15 per cent.