TRAI data reveals number of telephone subscribers declined in December quarter

The number of telephone subscribers in India declined to 895.51 million at the end of December 2012 from 937.70 million at the end of September 2012, registering a negative growth of 4.50 percent over the previous quarter, The Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a report.

The report "Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report" was made for the quarter ending December 2012.

It said subscription in urban areas decreased from 595.69 million at the end of September 2012 to 556.96 million at the end of December 2012 and urban teledensity declined from 161.13 million to 149.90 million.

Rural subscription decreased from 342.01 million to 338.54 million and rural teledensity also declined from 40.36 million to 39.85 million. Share of subscription in rural areas out of total subscription increased from 36.47 percent at the end of September 2012 to 37.80 percent at the end of December 2012.

With a decline of 41.90 million subscribers during the quarter, total wireless (GSM+CDMA) subscriber base registered a negative growth of 4.62 percent over the previous quarter and subscriber base declined from 906.62 million at the end of September 2012 to 864.72 million at the end of December 2012.