Landline subscribers shrank 0.59 percent in January

The subscriber base for the wireline - better known as landline - fell from 28.89 million at the end of December 2013 to 28.72 million at the end of January 2014, new data has revealed.

The net reduction in wireline subscriber base was 0.17 million at the decline rate of 0.59 percent, according to the data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The share of urban subscribers increased from 78.81 percent to 78.89 percent while the share of rural subscribers decreased from 21.19 percent to 21.11 percent.

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) are the two public sector undertakings which operate in this space and hold 77.61 percent of the wireline market share.

The rest are private players like Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone and a few others.

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 overall tele-density in India increased from 74.02 at the end of December to 74.5 at the end of January, the data showed.