Total telephone user base rises to 94.64 cr in July: Trai

Total telephone subscriber base in India rose marginally in July to reach 94.64 crore (94.64 million) with 34,50,000 users added during the month, sectoral regulator Trai said on Wednesday.

"The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 942.95 million at the end of June, 2014 to 946.40 million at the end of July, 2014, thereby showing a monthly growth of 0.37 per cent," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said. Urban subscription increased to 56.24 crore (56.24 million) at the end of July from 55.97 crore at the end of June.

The rural base was up from 38.31 crore (38.31 million), to 38.39 crore (38.39 million). The overall tele-density in the country increased to 76 per cent from 75.80 per cent at the end of June.

The total wireless subscriber base rose 0.42 per cent in July to reach 91.87 crore (91.87 million) at the end of July from 91.49 crore (91.49 million) last month. The overall wireless tele-density has increased to 73.78 per cent. "Private operators hold 90.05 per cent of the wireless subscriber market share whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU operators hold only 9.95 per cent market share," Trai said.

Vodafone added maximum subscribers in July, with 13.6,00,000 new users joining its network to take its base to 17.12 crore or 17.12 million. Bharti Airtel added 5.10 lakh subscribers to take its base to 20.97 crore (20.97 million) at the end of July, whereas Idea Cellular added 11,00,000 users and its overall base stood at 14.01 crore (14.01 million) in the same period.

Uninor added 8.53 lakh subscribers to take its base to 4.01 crore during the reported period. Reliance Communications added 5 lakh new users and its overall base at the end of July was 10.93 crore.

Tata Teleservices added 6.13 lakh users and its user base now stood at 6.34 crore or 63.4 million. State-run BSNL lost 13.97,000 users during the month and its base has shrunk to 8.80 crore at the end of July. Aircel added 9.17 lakh users during the month and its base stood at 7.39 crore at the end of July whereas Sistema Shyam Teleservices added 40,840 users during July to take its base to 91.94 lakh.

"In the month of July, 2014, total number of subscribers who have submitted their request for MNP is 2.86 million," Trai said.

The wireline subscriber base declined from 2.80 crore (28 million) at the end of June to 2.76 crore at the end of July. "BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU operators hold 76.55 per cent of the wireline market share," Trai said.

"As per the reports received from the broadband service providers, number of broadband subscribers increased from 68.83 million at the end of Jun-14 to 70.81 million at the end of Jul-14 with monthly growth rate of 2.87 per cent," Trai said.

Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters