The growth of Indian telecom industry does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. July 2008 has set an all time record with addition of 9.22 million wireless subscribers. Many countries do not even have total phone subscribers as much as we add each month.
Even though wireless subscribers are increasing, India is performing dismally on other 2 fronts – Wireline and Broadband- both of which saw minimal to negative growth.
Here are some of the highlights of TRAI report.
- Total 9.06 million telephone connections (Wireline and Wireless) have been added during July 2008 as compared to 8.81 million connections added in June 2008.
- The total number of telephone connections reaches 334.84 million at the end of July 2008 as compared to 325.78 million in June 2008.
- The overall tele-density is 29.08% at the end of July 2008 as against 28.33% in June 2008.
- The total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA & WLL(F)) base stood at 296.08 million at the end of July 2008. A total of 9.22 million wireless subscribers have been added during the month of July 2008 as against 8.94 million wireless subscribers added during the month of June 2008.
- In the wireline segment, the subscriber base has slightly decreased to 38.76 million in the month of July 2008 as against 38.92 million subscribers in June 2008.
- Total Broadband subscribers base has reached 4.57 million by the end of July 2008 as compared to 4.38 million by the end of June 2008. [Source - TRAI]
I think it is high time for Indian Government to take drastic initiatives to increase the penetration of broadband. They have announced several earlier, but have failed. I had carried out a poll sometime back on Internet broadband penetration and most of the participants felt that broadband was too expensive !
[poll=4]
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Its quite interesting to see that (when I voted) 42% of people in your poll felt that broadband was expensive. I use MTNL’s broadband service, and pay about Rs. 500 per month for a basic plan – which is approximately $12.5 per month. If you compare the cost of broadband on an absolute basis to countries such as the UK, you’ll find that its actually far more expensive, with most plans starting at $30 per month. On a purchasing power basis, however (if you take purchasing power parity of 4), that’s an equivalent of $50 – making it clearly more expensive.
Gautam Kshatriya
gautam.kshatriya@moneyvidya.com
http://www.moneyvidya.com
surprised at the growth of 9.22 million.I think Trai should start thinking about the hazardous effect of using of cell phones.Bcos use of mobile phones has become a necessity these days and its demand will be more day by day.TRAI should start making guidelines for cELL PHONE MANUFACTURERS to make User as well as environment friendlty cell phones.
“The growth of Indian telecom industry does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. July 2008 has set an all time record with addition of 9.22 million wireless subscribers. Many countries do not even have total phone subscribers as much as we add each month.”
That is very encouraging growth, and I see it transferring into other markets already this year. Let us hope 2009 will be as good. I don’t see it slowing down until a few years from now.
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