Mobile users grow, fixed line stagnates

By agencies   |   Tuesday, 22 March 2005, 20:30 IST
Printer Print Email Email
NEW DELHI:India’s mobile phone subscriber base has increased to 48 million while the number of fixed line phones lag behind with 45 million users, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said Tuesday. The gross subscriber base of the fixed and mobile services together reached 92.88 million at the end of the quarter ending December, 2004 from 86.86 million as on September, 2004, showing an increase of about 7 percent during the quarter. The growth on an annual basis (December, 2003 to December, 2004) is more than 31 percent, TRAI said. The subscribers of Fixed Service (Fixed Line and WLL-F) increased from 43.87 million to 44.87 million and that for Mobile Services (GSM and CDMA) from 43 million to 48 million, during the same quarter. Mobile subscribers showed a growth of 11.68 percent during the quarter. The Annual growth (December, 2003 to December, 2004) for this segment was in the order of 68.82 percent. The subscriber base of Internet has shown an increase of about 6 percent during the quarter. The numbers of subscribers have increased from 5.14 million to 5.45 million in December 2004. The annual growth of this segment (December, 2003 to December, 2004) is of the order of 31.64 percent. The number of ‘Always-On’ high-speed Internet subscribers has reached 6.54 lakh showing a growth of 108 per cent over the previous quarter. The Broadband connection reached a number of 46,638 up to December 2004.