Total telephone subscription declines in May: Telecom regulator

Hit by lower subscriptions in urban areas, the total number of telephone users in India declined from 1,059.29 million at the end of April 2016 to 1,058.03 million at the end of May 2016, showing a monthly fall in growth rate of 0.12 per cent, official data published by the sector regulator showed here on Friday.

The urban subscription declined from 607.21 million at the end of April to 604.98 million at the end of May whereas the rural subscription increased from 452.08 million to 453.05 million during the same period.

The monthly growth rate of urban subscription was down by 0.37 per cent and and rural subscription got augmented by 0.22 per cent during the month of May.

The overall tele-density in India also declined from 83.32 at the end of April to 83.14 at the end of May.

Total wireless subscriber base declined from 1,034.25 million at the end of April to 1,033.16 million at the end of May, thereby registering a monthly fall in growth rate of 0.11 per cent.

The wireless subscription in urban areas declined from 586.41 million at the end of April to 584.25 million at the end of May, whereas wireless subscription in rural areas increased from 447.84 million to 448.90 million during the same period.

The wireless tele-density in India slightly declined from 81.35 at the end of April to 81.18 at the end of May.

Out of the total wireless subscriber base (1,033.16 million), 932.51 million wireless subscribers were active on the date of peak visitor location register (VLR) in the month of May.

The wireline subscriber base declined from 25.04 million at the end of April to 24.87 million at the end of May. Net decline in the wireline subscriber base was 0.16 million with a monthly decline rate of 0.64 per cent. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers was 83.32 per cent and 16.68 per cent respectively at the end of May.

The number of broadband subscribers increased from 151.09 million at the end of April to 159.76 million at the end of May with a monthly growth rate of 5.74 per cent.

--IANS

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