15.5 pc wireless growth in September-December

New Delhi, Apr 17: The wireless market grew at 15.5 per cent in the quarter ending December 2006 by adding 20.08 million subscribers.

The internet subscribers base reached 85.47 lakh in the quarter by registering a growth of 5.9 per cent.

The broadband subscriber base reached 20.19 lakh during the period, registering a growth of 11.12 per cent, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in its latest report.

The gross subscriber base of the wire-line and wireless services together reached 189.92 million in the quarter ending December 2006 from 170.02 million on September 30, 2006, showing an increase of 11.70 per cent.

The overall growth for the calendar year ending December 2006 was 52.20 per cent.

The tele density in the quarter reached 17.16 compared to 15.41 during quarter ending September 2006.

The subscriber base for wireless services has increased from 129.54 million to 149.62 million and that of Fixed Line service has decreased from 40.5 million to 40.3 million.

The number of Public Call Offices (PCO) in the country has increased to 5.30 million from 5.12 million, up by 3.51 per cent, in the quarter.

Rural Wireline subscriber base reduced from 12.56 million in quarter ending September 2006 to 12.48 million in the quarter ending December 2006, posting a negative growth of 0.64 per cent.

The number of Village Public Telephones (VPT) in the country has increased to 5.59 lakh from 5.52 lakh, recording 1.26 per cent growth.

The all-India blended ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) per month for GSM services has declined by 6.2 per cent from Rs 377 in the quarter ending September 2006 to Rs 316 in the quarter ending December 2006.

ARPU for GSM post paid service has declined by 1.7 per cent from Rs 643 in September 2006 to Rs 632 in December 2006. ARPU for GSM prepaid has declined by 5.3 per cent from Rs 277 in September 2006 to Rs 262 in December 2006.

The all-India blended ARPU (per month) for CDMA services for the quarter stood at Rs 196 against Rs 215 for the quarter ending September 2006, showing a negative growth of 8.83 per cent.

Monthly ARPU for CDMA Postpaid segment is Rs 456 and for CDMA prepaid segment is Rs 159.

The internet subscriber base at the end of quarter was 85.82 lakh as compared to 80.96 lakh during the preceding quarter registering an increase of 6 per cent.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has continued hold its top position with a market share of 44.60 per cent followed by MTNL with 19.40 per cent share.

The number of broadband subscribes (with a download speed of 256 Kbps or more) was 20.54 lakh as on December 31, 2006 with a growth rate of 13.04 per cent over the previous quarter.

The Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for dial up internet subscribers was Rs 205 for the quarter ending December 2006.

The Minutes of Usage (MoU) for dial-up access per subscriber a month was 190 minutes.

UNI