4.9 mln subscriber addition in April, teledensity reaches 211.7 mln

New Delhi, May 24 (UNI) The telecom sector has further expanded by adding 4.9 million subscribers in April 2007, thereby taking the total number of telephones in the country to more than 211.7 million, against 146.20 during April 2006, registering a growth of 44.8 per cent during May 2006-April 2007.

The GSM segment has also shown an increase of 4.13 million during April 2007. While the CDMA segment registered an increase of 1.01 million, the fixed segment has declined by 0.23 million.

All these made the teledensity to improve further to 18.7 per cent, a statement said today.

In the GSM segment, Tamil Nadu telecom circle added more than 4.4 lakh subscribers during April 2007. In the CDMA segment, Uttar Pradesh (W) added 1.96 lakh subscribers during the period.

The growth of broadband connections improved further and at the end of March 2007, about 2.29 million broadband connections were provided and coverage of broadband connectivity by public sector service providers has reached 962 cities.

Further, the total number of existing ISP licencees is 382.

Under Bharat Nirman Programme, out of the 66,822 villages, so far 47,747 villages have been provided with Village Public Telephones (VPTs). The remaining 19,075 villages are to be covered by November this year.

UNI