Telecom subscriber base grows by 6.3 mln, teledensity at 19.25%

New Delhi, June 19 (UNI) India added 6.3 million telecom subscribers during May with the total number of telephones in the country registering a growth of 46.9 per cent between June'06 and May'07 at 218.06 million.

The GSM subscriber base increased by five million and CDMA by 1.5 million, while the fixed line segment declined by 0.2 million, government data showed today.

The overall teledensity improved further to 19.25 per cent in May.

The government has projected 250 million telephone subscribers by end of this year and 500 million by 2010, 440 million of them using mobiles.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh circles added more than 4.5 lakh subscribers each.

In the GSM segment, Tamil Nadu telecom circle added more than 4.1 lakh subscribers. In the CDMA segment, Maharashtra telecom circle added 1.49 lakh subscribers during the period.

The growth of broadband connections improved further and at the end of April'07, about 2.38 million broadband connections were provided and coverage of broadband connectivity by public sector service providers has reached 1,039 cities.

The total number of existing ISP licencees is now 377, the data showed.

UNI