Country adds two lakh new phone lines each day

New Delhi, Feb 15 (UNI) More than two lakh telephone lines are being added each day in the country with the total number going up to 196.7 million, posting a growth of 3.5 per cent and a teledensity of 17.45 per cent.

In January, 6.78 million lines were added with growth coming in from wireless segment. GSM contributed 4.99 million lines while CDMA added 1.79 million connections.

However, a marginal decrease of about five thousand subscribers was seen in the fixed line segment.

Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat telecom circles added more than 3.7 lakh each in the GSM segment, followed by Karnataka (3.5 lakh).

In the CDMA segment, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra circles added more than five lakh subscribers each during the month, an official statement said.

The growth of broadband connections improved further to 2.03 million connections at the end of December 2006. Coverage of broadband connectivity by public sector service providers reached 762 cities.

The total number of existing ISP licencees is 385.

Under Bharat Nirman Programme, out of 66,822 villages, so far 38,795 villages have been provided with village public telephones (VPTs). The remaining 28,027 villages are to be covered by November.

UNI