Telecom Tuesday: India crossed 500 million telephone subscriber Mark

I am sure India has already crossed the 500 million Telephone subscriber Mark. Why I say this?

According to data released by Telecom regulatory Authority of India – the total subscriber base by the end of August 2009 was 494.07 Million.

India has been adding more than 10 million subscriber monthly for nearly 2 years now – Do the maths – We are at the end of September. So, unless the mobile subscriber growth suddenly take a nosedive (very unlikely), India should have already crossed the 500 Million Telephone Subscriber Mark.

Coming back to the report released by TRAI for month ending August 2008 – Here are the highlights:

• Total Telephone subscriber base reaches 494.07 Million
• Wireless subscription reaches 456.74 Million
• Wireline subscription declines to 37.33 Million
• 15.08 Million new additions in wireless
• Wireline subscription declines by 0.09 Million
• Overall Tele-density reaches 42.27
• Broadband subscriber base is 6.98 million

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 494.07 Million at the end of August-09 from 479.07 Million in July-2009, thereby registering a growth rate of 3.13%.

With this, the overall Tele-density in India reaches 42.27%

Wireless Segment

Wireless subscriber base increased from 441.66 Million in July-2009 to 456.74 Million at the end of August-09 at a monthly growth rate of 3.42%. Wireless Tele-density stands at 39.08%

Wireline Segment

Wireline subscriber base declined from 37.41 Million in July-2009 to 37.33
Million at the end of August-09. BSNL/MTNL, the PSU operators own 85.80% of the Market share. While major Private Wireline service providers have increased their subscriber base, BSNL/MTNL lost 0.14 Million subscribers in the month of August-09. Wireline Tele-density is 3.19.

Broadband Segment

Total Broadband subscriber base has increased from 6.80 million in July-09 to 6.98 million in August-09, thereby showing a dismal growth rate of 2.65 %.

I really wonder when will the broadband growth replicate the mobile growth (even half it would do :))