2.56 mn mobile number portability requests in January

In the month of January, there were 2.56 million requests for mobile number portability (MNP), data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) showed here Wednesday.

MNP requests increased from 109.37 million subscribers at the end of December, 2013 to 111.94 million at the end of January, 2014, the data showed.

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 915.19 million at the end of December, 2013 to 922.04 million at the end of January, 2014, showing a monthly growth of 0.75 percent.

The share of urban subscribers has declined from 60.03 percent to 59.86 percent whereas the share of rural subscribers has increased from 39.97 percent to 40.14 percent in the month of January, 2014.

With this, the overall tele-density in India increased from 74.02 at the end of December, 2013 to 74.50 at the end of January, 2014.

Total wireless subscriber base increased from 886.30 million in December, 2013 to 893.31 million at the end of January, 2014, registering a monthly growth of 0.79 percent.

Wireline, better known as landline, subscriber base declined from 28.89 million at the end of December, 2013 to 28.72 million at the end of January, 2014. Net reduction in wireline subscriber base was 0.17 million at the decline rate of 0.59 percent.

The data showed, according to reports received from 144 broadband service providers, there are 56.90 million broadband subscribers in the country at the end of January, 2014.