Mobile base almost level with land lines

The ratio of mobile to fixed-line phone subscribers reached 87 per cent during the quarter ending June 2004, according to the latest quarterly performance indicators released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

The number of wireless-based access (mobile and wireless in local loop-fixed or WLL-F) became almost equal to the wire-line subscriber base during this quarter.

"If this trend continues during the current year, the country will have more mobile subscribers than the fixed subscribers during 2004 itself," the Trai said.

The telecom subscriber base in the country increased 6.25 per cent to 81.31million in the quarter ending June 2004, compared to 76.73 million subscribers in March 2004.

The annual growth (June 2003 to June 2004) was over 39 per cent.

The fixed line subscriber base (including WLL-F) increased 1.56 per cent to 43.51 million till the end of June 2004.

The mobile subscriber base increased from 33.69 million to 37.8 million during the same quarter, showing a growth of 12.08 per cent.

The annual growth (June 2003 to June 2004) for this segment was 118 per cent.

The Internet subscriber base grew about 8 per cent during the quarter to 4.93 million in June 2004, compared to 4.55 million subscribers in March 2004.

The annual growth of this segment (June 2003 to June 2004) was 30.32 per cent.

The broadband subscriber base also grew 21 per cent and reached 2,26,203 users during the quarter. Internet telephony recorded a usage of 22.04 million minutes during this quarter.

Average minutes of use (MOU) per month per Internet subscriber was of the order of 400 minutes and the average revenue per user per month for Internet service was Rs 250.

About 7,000 village public telephones (VPTs) were added during the quarter, taking their total number to 5,29,263 in the country.

These public telephones now cover more than 86 per cent of the total number of villages.

The number of public call offices in the country increased 7.4 per cent during the quarter to 20,67,287.