The mobile subscriber base in India has leaped past the 1 billion mark for the first time according to a new TRAI report. The country is only the second one to do so after China.
To recall, India had surpassed the 1 billion mark when it came to overall connections back in July. The total number of telephone subscriptions now stands at 1029.34 million, out of which 1003.49 million are wireless users and 25.85 million are wireline ones. Cellular consumers had increased from 996.66 million at the end of September 2015, indicating a 0.69% rise in the monthly growth rate.
However, landline connections dropped by 0.39% from 25.95 million to 25.85 million in October this year. Going into area-wise statistics, the number of mobile users in urban regions had climbed up from 577.82 million in September to 578.11 million by October. Similarly, rural locations saw its numbers grow from 418.44 million to 425.38 million.
City dwellers seem to favor wired connections more than villages do, with 81.78% of wireline users based in the former compared to 18.22% in the latter. Among telecom operators, Bharti Airtel leads the pack when it comes to wireless consumers with a 23.72% market share. It’s followed by Vodafone, Idea and Reliance at 18.88%, 16.67% and 11.10%, respectively.
Also Read: India tops list of new mobile subscribers with 13 million additions: Ericsson
Private access service providers had dominated 91.63% of the market in October, while government-backed entities like BSNL and MTNL only held 8.37% of it. An inverse pattern is seen when it comes to landline services, with the public companies holding 73.69% of the share and private ones claiming 26.31% of the market.
The North East of India and Rajasthan had recorded the highest intake rate in terms of cellular subscribers in October, even as New Delhi and Punjab’s rate had declined during the course of the month.