Telephone user base grows 0.51% to 1.19 billion in March

The number of telephone subscribers in India rose from 1,188.55 million at the end of February 2017 to 1,194.58 million at the end of March 2017, a monthly growth rate of 0.51 per cent, data published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said on Friday.

Urban subscription increased from 692.15 million to 692.97 million and rural subscription from 496.39 million to 501.61 million during the same period.

The monthly growth rates of urban and rural subscription were 0.12 per cent and 1.05 per cent respectively. The overall tele-density in India went up from 92.59 to 92.98.

Total wireless subscribers increased from 1,164.20 million at the end of February 2017 to 1,170.18 million at the end of March 2017, a monthly growth rate of 0.51 per cent.

During the month of March 2017, a total of 6.03 million requests were received for mobile number portability (MNP).

With this, the cumulative MNP requests increased from 266.73 million at the end of February 2017 to 272.76 million at the end of March 2017, since the implementation of MNP.

Wireline subscribers increased from 24.35 million to 24.40 million. Net addition in the wireline subscriber base was 0.05 million with a monthly growth rate of 0.22 per cent.

The share of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers was 84.24 per cent and 15.76 per cent respectively at the end of March 2017.