Telecom subscriber base crosses 500-mln mark; tele-density at 43.5

New Delhi, Nov 4 : The country's telecom subscriber base expanded by 3.03 per cent to 509.03 million in September 2009 from 494.07 million in previous month, according to data released here today by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The overall tele-density in the country reached 43.50 per cent in September, data showed.

''The set target of 500 million telephones by the end of 2010 has already been achieved by September 2009 itself,'' Telecom Ministry said in a statement.

The wireless subscriber base, which includes GSM, CDMA & FWP, increased from 456.74 million in August 2009 to 471.73 million in September 2009, registering a growth rate of 3.28 per cent. With this wireless tele-density stands at 40.31 per cent.

However, the wireline subscriber base continued to decline from 37.33 million in August 2009 to 37.31 million at the end of September 2009, mainly on account of reduction in the subscriber base of state-run firms BSNL and MTNL, which lost 0.06 million users in September. These two PSU operators hold 85.67 per cent of the wireline market share. The overall wireline tele-density stands at 3.19 per cent.

The total broadband subscriber base rose from 6.98 million in August to 7.22 million in September, witnessing a growth of 3.29 per cent.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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