Telephone subscribers grew by 0.28 percent in Jan-March quarter: TRAI

India's telephone subscribers increased from 895.51 million at the end of December 2012 to 898.02 million at the end of March 2013, a growth of 0.28 percent over the previous quarter, a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) release said here Thusrday.

However, this reflects year-on-year negative growth of 5.61 percent over the same quarter of last year. The overall teledensity slightly declined from 73.34 as on December 31, 2012 to 73.32 during March 31, 2013.

Subscription in urban areas decreased from 556.96 million at the end of December 2012 to 548.80 million at the end of March 2013 and urban teledensity declined from 149.90 to 146.96. Rural subscription increased from 338.54 million to 349.22 million and rural teledensity increased from 39.85 to 41.02.

The share of subscription in rural areas out of total subscription increased from 37.80 percent at the end of December 2012 to 38.89 percent at the end of March 2013.

Internet subscribers increased from 21.57 million at the end of December 2012 to 21.61 million at the end of March 2013, a quarterly growth rate of 0.16 percent.

The number of broadband subscribers increased from 14.98 million at the end of December 2012 to 15.05 million at the end of March 2013, registering a quarterly growth of 0.45 percent and year-on-year growth of 8.98 percent.