Mobile rates are down by 37 per cent to Rs 1.20 a minute for the quarter ended September over the same period a year ago while that of fixed phones have declined to 85 paise in the same period.
The effective per minute charge for a mobile (local call) has reduced from Rs 1.90 at the end of September, 2004 to Rs 1.20 at the end of September 2005.
For local call from fixed phones, the same has reduced to Rs 0.85 from Re 1 registering a decline of 15 per cent during the period from September 2004 to September 2005, Telecom Regulatory Authority said in its quarterly review.
But in the same period the subscriber base has swollen by leaps and bounds. The gross subscriber base of the fixed and mobile services together reached 113.07 million at the end of the quarter ending September, 2005 from 104.22 million as on June, 2005, showing an increase of around 8.49 per cent. The overall growth for the year (September 2004 - September 2005) was 30.17 per cent, TRAI said.
The tele-density at the end of September 2005 has reached 10.36 as compared to 9.61 at the end of June 2005, thus registering a growth of 8 per cent. The overall growth for the year was 28.03 per cent.
The annual tariffs for Domestic Leased Circuits have reduced by up to 70 per cent for higher capacities due to lowering of ceiling price by TRAI, it said.
The subscribers of fixed service (fixed line and WLL-F) increased from 46.85 million to 48.00 million, the additions being predominantly WLL-F and that for mobile services from 57.37 million to 65.07 million in the quarter.
Mobile subscribers showed a growth of 13.42 per cent during the quarter. The annual growth for this segment was 51.36 per cent.
The share of private operators v/s PSU operators for gross subscriber base increased to a ratio of 52:48 in comparison to 49:51 at the end of June 2005.
The Internet subscribers base has crossed the Broadband Policy 2004 target of 6.0 million three months before the target date by reaching 6.1 million during the quarter ending September 2005 in comparison to 5.9 million at the end of quarter ending June 2005.
Out of 6.1 million the share of PSU operators was 3.5 million and that of private operators was 2.6 million. The segment grew about 15 per cent this year.
But the growth in broadband is slow. The number of broadband subscribers increased from 396,000 to 610,000 during the quarter ending September, 2005 registering a growth of about 54 per cent during the quarter.
But this growth is not enough to meet the policy target of 3 million by 2005. Out of 610,000 the share of PSU operators was 260,000 and that of private operators was 350,000.
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