New Delhi: The country's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, accounts for the largest number of mobile subscribers in the country followed by Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, which together account for almost half of the total wireless connections.

India, which is the world's second largest mobile phone market in terms of subscribers, had a total of 861.66 million mobile connections as on February 2013, data from telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) showed.

Mobile subscriber base in the country declined by 0.11 percent to 861.66 million at the end of February 2013 from 862.6 million in January 2013.

Uttar Pradesh has a total of 121.60 million mobile phone connections, while, Tamil Nadu has 71.81 million subscribers, according to the TRAI data.

Maharashtra is at the third position, with a subscriber base of 67.73 million followed by Andhra Pradesh and Bihar at 64.12 million and 60.73 million, respectively.

These five states together account for 366 million mobile subscribers, which is 45 percent of the total cell phone connections in the country.

Karnataka stands sixth with 52.45 million mobile subscribers followed by the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh with 51.43 million subscribers.

Gujarat, fast rising as the most industry-friendly state, came eighth with 51.23 million cell phone connections, while Rajasthan, the largest state in terms of area, has a total of 47.83 million mobile subscribers.

India's total telecom subscriber base, which includes mobile and landline connections, declined marginally to 892 million in February 2013 from 893.1 million at the end of January this year.

India's telecom subscriber base had touched an all-time high of 965.5 million in June 2012.

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