Mobile number portability requests up 2.3 mn in October: TRAI

Mobile number portability requests increased from 102.49 million subscribers at the end of September to 104.79 million at the end of October -- a rise of 2.30 million requests within the month itself, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said Friday.

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 899.86 million at the end of September to 904.56 million at the end of October -- thereby showing a monthly growth of 0.52 percent, according to data released by TRAI here Friday.

The share of urban subscribers declined from 60.36 percent to 60.26 percent while the share of rural subscribers increased from 39.64 percent to 39.74 percent in October.

With this, the overall teledensity in India increased from 73.01 at the end of September to 73.32 at the end of October.

Subscription in the urban areas increased from 543.18 million in September to 545.09 million at the end of October. Subscription in rural areas increased from 356.68 million to 359.48 million during the same period.

The overall urban teledensity increased from 144.02 to 144.28 and rural teledensity increased from 41.70 to 42 during the month.

Total wireless subscriber base increased from 870.58 million in September to 875.48 million at the end of October, registering a monthly growth of 0.56 percent.

Wireline subscriber base declined from 29.28 million at the end of September to 29.08 million at the end of October. Net reduction in wireline subscriber base was 0.20 million at the decline rate of 0.68 percent.

Wireline broadband subscription reached 14.91 million in October.