Total telecom user base at 131 M

By agencies   |   Wednesday, 15 February 2006, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: The total number of telephones in the country stood at 130.8 million at the end of January with about five new telephone connections being added in January alone. During the fiscal between April 2005 and January 2006, about 32 million were added. The addition of 32 million phones in April-January period is higher by about 14 million phones than the achievement during the corresponding period of the last year. The total teledensity now stands at 11.7 percent from 8.8 percent in January 2005. The total number of phones, as on January 31, 2006 were 130.8 million. During this period, more mobile phones were added. The number of mobile phones at the end of January 31, 2006 was about 83 million, which is over 63 percent of the total phones. Out of net addition of 32 million phones during the current year, about 31 million were mobile phones, which accounts for nearly 97 percent of the total additions. The private sector telecom operators played a major role by accounting for about 81 percent of the expansion during these ten months. The private sector has so far provided 72.4 million phones as on January 31, 2006, which is over 55 percent of the total phones in the country. The number of broadband subscribers in the country for the quarter ending December 2005 touched 885,000 from 601,000 at the beginning of the quarter.