India: 510 Million phones
By Sumeer Singh

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has been tasked to ensure that the interests of consumers are protected and at the same time to nurture conditions for growth of telecommunications, broadcasting and cable services in a manner and at a pace which will enable India to play a leading role in the emerging global information society.

TRAI has just released ‘Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report’ for the Quarter ending September 2009. This Report provides a broad perspective of the Telecom Services and presents the key parameters and growth trends for the Telecom Services in India for the period covering July-September 2009, and is compiled on the basis of information furnished by the Service Providers.

Highlights of the Report

- The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 509.03 Million at the end of Sep-09 from 464.82 Million in Jun-09, thereby registering a growth rate of 9.51%. With this, the overall Tele-density in India reached 43.50 as on 30th September 2009.
- Subscription in Urban Areas increased to 357.22 Million and Rural subscription increased to 151.81 Million. Rural Teledensity reached 18.46 and urban Teledensity reached 102.79 at the end of Sep-09. The share of rural subscribers increased to 29.8% in total subscription. Composition of Telephone subscribers Urban Wireless 64.84%, Rural wireless 27.83%,  Urban wireline 5.34% and Rural Wireline 1.99%
- With 44.43 Million net additions during the Quarter, Total Wireless (GSM + CDMA) subscriber base increased to 471.73 Million at the end of Sep-09, and wireless Tele-density reached 40. Wireless segment accounts for 92.7% of the total telephone subscription at the end of Sept-09.
- Wireline subscriber base declined to 37.31 Million at the end of Sep-09, bringing down the wireline teledensity to 3.19.
- Internet subscribers increased to 14.63 million at the end of September 2009 registering a quarterly growth rate of 4.09%.
- Share of Broadband subscription in total Internet subscription increased from 47.1% in Jun-09 to 49.3% in Sep-09. 86.53% of the Broadband subscribers are using Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology.
- Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for GSM-Full Mobility service declined by 11.3%, from Rs. 185 in QE Jun-09 to Rs. 164 in QE Sep-09.
- ARPU for CDMA – Full mobility service declined by 3.8%, from Rs. 92 in QE Jun-09 to Rs. 89 in QE Sep-09
- ARPU for dialup Internet usage declined by 5.08%, from Rs. 243.50 in QE Jun-09 to Rs 231.13 in the quarter ending Sep-09
- MOU per subscriber for GSM – Full mobility service continued to show a declining trend. It declined by 6.68%, from 454 in QE Jun-09 to 423 in QE Sep-09. The outgoing MOUs declined by 6.8% and incoming by 6.5%.
- MOU per subscriber for CDMA-full mobility service declined by 9.8% from 342 (Q.E Jun-09) to 308 (Q.E Sep-09). The Outgoing MOUs declined by 9.2% and Incoming MOUs declined by 10.5%.
- Gross Revenue (GR) and Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of Telecom Sector for the QE Sep-09 has been Rs 38,854.65 Crore and Rs. 29,115.31 Crore respectively. There has been a reduction of 0.65% & 2.08%, as compared to previous quarter, in GR & AGR respectively.
- Average licence fee as percentage of AGR is 8.41% in Sep-09 as against 8.43% in previous quarter.
- The performance of wireline service providers improved as compared to the previous quarter, in respect of Time taken for refund of deposits after closures.

While most of the report seems to be based on facts, the figure of approx 14.6 million internet subscribers seems low.  Other reports have said that India has as many as 60 million internet subscribers.