India Added Over 20 Million New Mobile Subscribers in February

India's telecoms regulator, TRAI has announced that the country added just   over 20 million net new mobile phone subscribers during February.

The total wireless subscriber base increased from 771.18 million in January   2011  to 791.38 million at the end of February 2011 registering a growth of 2.62%.   The share of Urban Subscriber has declined to 66.36% from 66.42% where as share   of Rural Subscribers has increased from 33.58% to 33.64%. The overall wireless   teledensity in India reached 66.36%.

Wireless subscription in Urban Areas increased from 512.26 million in January   2011 to 525.17 million at the end of February 2011. Rural subscription increased   from 258.93 million to 266.21. This shows higher growth in Rural Subscription   (2.82%) than Urban Subscription (2.52%). The Urban wireless teledensity has   increased from 143.36 to 146.72 and Rural teledensity increased from 31.05 to   31.90.

Private operators hold 87.9% of the wireless market share where as BSNL and   MTNL, two state-controlled operators hold only 12.10% market share.

Out of the total 791.38 million subscribers, 562.98 million subscribers were   active subscribers on the date of Peak VLR for the month of Feb 2011. The proportion   of VLR subscribers is approximately 71.14 % of the total wireless subscriber   base reported by the service providers.

The total active VLR number excludes the CDMA VLR figure of BSNL, as the service   provider has not provided the VLR figures corresponding to their total CDMA   subscriber base of 5.37 million.

Circle-wise, Jammu & Kashmir has the highest proportion of VLR subscribers   with 80.56% followed by Assam (77.74%) and Maharashtra (77.45%); Mumbai has   the lowest proportion with 59.04%. Service Provider wise, Idea leads the tally   with 92.65% closely followed by Bharti with 92.52%; MTNL is at the bottom with   36.16%.

AKANKSHA ARORA

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