Mobile bills shrink with tariffs

The average revenue per user for cellular services dropped 5% in Jan-Mar 2004

The average revenue per user (ARPU) for cellular services has dropped 5 per cent in the January-March 2004 quarter though the usage increased by 7 per cent to 322 minutes.

According to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), the fall in ARPU was due to a 23 per cent decline in cellular tariffs.

The decrease in ARPU was more pronounced for WLL mobile operators with the revenue dropping 17 per cent during the quarter to Rs 383 at the end of March this year compared to Rs 483 in January.

For cellular service providers, ARPU declined 4.6 per cent from Rs 457 in January to Rs 436 in March, 2004. The average use (Minutes of Use) during the quarter grew to 322 minutes in March from 301 minutes in January this year.

Between March last year and this year, cell users were using their phones 45 per cent more for voice calls.

The ratio of mobile subscribers to fixed line subscribers reached 80 per cent. "If this trend continues during the current year, the country will have more mobile subscribers than the fixed subscribers during 2004 itself," Trai said.

The number of mobile users exceeded the fixed subscribers in circles like Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Punjab and Chennai.

The number of PCOs in the country also increased 7 per cent during the quarter to about 20 lakhs.

Telecom subscriber base saw a 8.5 per cent growth and touched 7.67 crore for the quarter ended March 2004 compared to the previous quarter. On annual basis, the growth was more than 40 per cent. The regulator said that this growth was primarily driven by the growth in the use of mobile telephony.

While subscribers of Fixed services, both fixed line and WLL(F), increased marginally to 4.28 crore in the quarter from 4.2 crore in the previous quarter ended December 2003, that of mobile service users base jumped to 3.36 crore from 2.84 crore.

Mobile subscribers base, including WLL (M) and cellular subscribers also clocked a growth of 18.46 per cent in the quarter.

During the quarter, internet subscriber base increased by 10 per cent to 45 lakh. Public sector internet service providers (ISPs) BSNL topped the list with 11.28 lakh connections followed by MTNL with 7.69 lakh connections.

The public sector ISPs were able to corner about 41 per cent of the total subscriber base. The annual growth in this segment was about 25 per cent.

Telecom figures

• India's telecom subscriber base touched 76.7 million in the quarter ended March 2004
• Subscribers of fixed services, both fixed line and WLL-fixed, increased marginally to 42.8 million in the same period
• The mobile service users base (cellular and WLL-mobile) jumped to 33.6 million
• The Internet subscriber base swelled to 45,00,000