India's telecom subscriber goes up to 300.48 mln: TRAI

New Delhi, Jul 6 (UNI) The country's total telecom subscriber base stood at 300.48 million for the quarter ending March 2008, as compared to 272.87 million for the previous quarter, registering an increase of 10.12 per cent.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in a release said the subscriber base for wireless services has increased to 261.07 million for quarter ending March 2008 from 233.62 million during the previous quarter ending December 2007.

Besides, the subscriber base of wireline service has increased to 39.41 million from 39.25 million.

The tele-density for the quarter ending March 2008 reached 26.22 per cent, whereas it was 23.87 per cent for the same period last year.

Rural wireline subscriber base has decreased to 11.64 million from 11.75 million, recording a decline of 0.94 per cent.

The rural wireless subscriber base has increased 18.58 per cent to 62.28 million from 52.52 million.

The number of Public Call Offices (PCOs) in the country for the quarter ending December 2008 has grown 3.69 per cent to 6.18 million as compared to 5.96 million during the previous quarter ending December 2007.

For GSM segment, all India blended average revenue per user (ARPU) per month has increased by 1.15 per cent to Rs 264 in March 2008 from Rs 261 in December 2007, which is the result of steep increase of 5.9 per cent in ARPU in Circle category 'A'.

ARPU for postpaid service grew 1.59 per cent to Rs 638 in March 2008 from Rs 628 in December 2007.

For CDMA segment, ARPU for the quarter ending March 2008 declined to Rs 159 as compared to Rs 176 for the quarter ending December 2007.

In the internet and broadband segment, internet wireline subscribers stood at 11.09 million for the quarter ending March 2008 as compared to 10.36 million during the previous quarter, registering a growth of nearly 7.08 per cent.

There are 66.09 million wireless Internet subscribers, who are capable of accessing Internet through mobile handset.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) retaining its top position reported a subscriber base of nearly 5.64 million Internet subscribers against 4.99 million at the end of last quarter.

The number of Broadband subscribers stood at 3.87 million for the quarter ending March 2008 as against 3.13 million for the previous quarter, recording a growth of 23.64 per cent.

UNI SG MP AS1424