India's telephone subscriber base stands at roughly 90 crores: TRAI

The telephone subscriber base in India rose to 900.05 million at the end of May 2012 from 897.02 million at the end of April 2013, thereby registering a monthly growth of 0.34 percent, as per TRAI’s Highlights on Telecom Subscription Data as on 31st May 2013 report.

With the telephone subscriber base in the country, the total number of wireless subscribers jumped too. Here it increased from 867.02 million in April 2013 to 870.20 million at the end of May 2013, registering a monthly growth of 0.37 percent.  

More telephone subscribers now! (Image credit: Getty Images)

Mobile Number Portability, one of Indian telecom sector’s most ambitious moves in recent times, received 93.56 million takers by the end of May 2013. In MNP Zone-I (Northern and Western India), Rajasthan received maximum number of requests (9.04 million), followed by Gujarat (7.98 million). In MNP Zone-II (Southern and Eastern), Karnataka received maximum number of requests (11.03 million), followed by Andhra Pradesh Service area (8.47 million). In May 2013 alone, 1.83 million subscribers submitting porting requests to their respective service providers.

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The total number of broadband subscribers in the country grew too – from 15.09 million at the end of April 2013 to 15.13 million at the end of the review period.

As on May 31, 2013, there are a total of 161 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offering broadband services in the country. Top five ISPs in terms of market share (based on subscriber base) are: BSNL (9.96 million), Bharti Airtel (1.40 million), MTNL (1.09 million), Hathway (0.36 million) and You Broadband (0.31 million).