India's telephone subscriber base swells to over 951 million by end-March

02 Aug 2012 Evaluate

Amidst intensifying competition and newcomers starting operations, the subscriber addition has only accelerated. The number of telephone subscriber in the country grew from 926.53 million at the end of December 2011 to 951.34 million as at the end of March 12, registering a growth of 2.68% over the previous quarter as against 2.16% during the quarter ended December-11. These figures also reflect year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth of 12.41% over the same quarter of last year. The overall tele-density in India has reached 78.66 as of March 31, 2012.

Further, in Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released report on ‘Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators (January-March, 2012),’ Gross revenue and adjusted gross revenue of telecom service sector for the quarter has been Rs 49,242.99 crore and Rs 34,457.07 crore respectively. Meanwhile monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) for GSM service increased by 1.66% to reach Rs 97 at the end of March 2012 from Rs 96 at the end of December 2011.

With 25.33 million net additions during the quarter, total wireless (GSM + CDMA) subscriber base registered a growth of 2.83% over the previous quarter and increased from 893.84 million to 919.17 million at the end of March 2012. The year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth rate of Wireless subscribers for Mar-12 is 13.26%. Unlike the wireless segment, the wire-line segment’s subscriber base witnessed a decline from 32.69 million in December 2011 to 32.17 million at the end of March 2012, showing a shift from wire-line to the wireless. Subscription in urban areas grew from 611.19 million at the end of December 2011 to 620.52 million at the end of March 2012, taking urban tele-density from 167.85 to 169.55. Meanwhile, rural subscription increased from 315.33 million to 330.82 million, and rural tele-density increased from 37.48 to 39.22.

In terms of market share, as at end-March 2012, Bharti Airtel undoubtedly maintained its leadership position with a user base of 184.55 million at the end of March 2012. However, in terms of net additions during the quarter, Idea was number one having added the maximum users, followed by Uninor and Airtel. Idea added 6.34 million new users while Uninor and Airtel added 6.13 million and 5.58 million, respectively.

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