India's internet user base touches 825 million, bulk of it wireless

The subscriber base is made up of 778.09 million broadband internet users and 47.21 million narrowband internet users.

The total number of internet users in the country has risen from 795.18 million at the end of December 2020 to 825.30 million at the end of March 2021, registering a quarterly growth rate of 3.79 per cent, showed data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India released on Friday.

Of these 825.30 million internet subscribers, the number of wired internet users is 26 million and that of wireless subscribers is 799.31 million.

The subscriber base is comprised broadband internet users (778.09 million) and narrowband internet users (47.21 million).

The broadband internet subscriber base increased by 4.11 per cent from 747.41 million at the end of December 2020 to 778.09 million at the end of March 2021. However, the narrowband internet subscriber base declined by 1.18 per cent from 47.77 million at the end of December 2020 to 47.21 million at the end of March 2021.

The definition of broadband is internet access with a minimum capacity of greater or equal 512 Kbit/s in one or both directions. Narrowband is internet access with a capacity of less than 512 Kbit/s in one or both directions.

Telephone subscribers in urban areas rose from 647.91 million at the end of December 2020 to 663.77 million at the end of March 2021 and urban tele density also increased from 138.34 per cent to 141.03 per cent during the same period.

Rural telephone subscribers increased from 525.92 million at the end of December 2020 to 537.42 million at the end of March 2021 and rural tele density also increased from 59.05 per cent to 60.27 per cent during that period.

As the overall Covid situation had improved in the country, during the reporting period, out of the total subscription, the share of rural subscription decreased from 44.80 per cent at the end of December 2020 to 44.74 per cent at the end of March 2021.

With a net increase of 27.18 million subscribers during the quarter, the total wireless subscriber base rose from 1,153.77 million at the end of December 2020 to 1,180.96 million at the end of March 2021, up 2.36 per cent over the previous quarter. On a YoY basis, wireless subscriptions also increased at the rate of 2 per cent during the year.

Wireless tele density increased from 84.9 per cent at the end of December 2020 to 86.68 per cent at the end of March 2021 with quarterly growth rate of 2.1 per cent.

Wireline subscribers rose from 20.05 million at the end of December 2020 to 20.24 million at the end of March 2021 with a quarterly growth rate of 0.94 per cent, and on YoY basis, wireline subscriptions were up 0.11 per cent at the end of QE March 2021.

Monthly Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for wireless service increased by 1.9 per cent, from Rs 101.65 in QE December 2020 to Rs 103.58 in QE March 2021. On a YoY basis, monthly ARPU for wireless service increased by 13.21 per cent in this quarter.

Prepaid ARPU per month increased from Rs 95 in QE December 2020 to Rs 97 in QE March 2021; however, Postpaid ARPU per month decreased from Rs 227 in QE December 2020 to Rs 226 in QE March 2021.