Telephone user base expands to 965 m

Total telephone subscriber base grew by 1.49 per cent to 965.52 million at the end of June, 2012, according to the sectoral regulator Trai. The subscriber base stood at 951.34 million at the end of March 2012.

According to Trai data for April-June quarter, total wireless (GSM and CDMA) subscriber base grew by 1.62 per cent during the April-June quarter to 934.09 million as compared to 919.17 million at the end of March 2012.

However, the monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) for GSM operators declined to Rs 95 for the quarter from Rs 97 in the January-March quarter. Minutes of usage (MOU) per user for GSM operators remained flat at 346.

Continuing its declining trend, the wireline users base fell to 31.43 million at June, from 32.17 million at March 2012.

Subscription in urban areas grew to 621.76 million in April-June, from 620.53 million at the end of March 2012. However, the urban teledensity declined slightly to 169.03 from 169.55.

Internet subscriber base grew 0.66 per cent during the quarter to reach 23.01 million at June end, from 22.86 million at March end. The broadband user base reached 14.57 million from 13.81 million during the same period.