India's telecom subscriber base crosses 479 Million

Friday, 21 August 2009, 14:35 IST
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New Delhi: India's telecom subscriber base increased to 479.07 million at the end of July from 464.82 million a month before, according to official data released here Thursday. The data released by the sectoral watchdog, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), said the overall teledensity in the country reached 41.08 percent in the period under review. Wireless subscriber base increased from 427.28 million to 441.66 million, registering a growth of 3.36 percent, while wireless teledensity stood at 37.87. However, the wireline subscriber base declined from 37.54 million to 37.41 million in July. State-run telecom operators Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagr Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) own 85.99 percent of the market share. While major private wireline service providers have increased their subscriber base, BSNL and MTNL lost 0.17 million subscribers, TRAI said. The wireline teledensity stood at 3.21 at July-end. Total broadband subscriber base increased to 6.8 million from 6.62 million, a growth of 2.7 percent.
Source: IANS