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The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently released the performance indicator report for telecom services for the April-June 2008 quarter. The report provides an update on growth trends in various telecom services. We bring you the highlights...

The total telecom subscriber base stood at 325.79 million as of June 2008, up from 300.49 million in March 2008, registering a growth of 8.42 per cent during the quarter. The teledensity crossed 28 per cent during this period.

Fixed line services
Fixed line services continued to witness a decline during the quarter ended June 2008. The subscriber base declined by 1.27 per cent to 38.92 million from 39.42 million in March 2008. While the incumbents Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) together accounted for the major share of the market at over 88 per cent, private operators held the remaining 11 per cent. The incumbents continued to witness a spate of disconnections while private operators saw an increase in their subscriber base, albeit marginal.

Mobile services
With 25.8 million subscriber additions, the wireless subscriber base grew at 9.88 per cent during the quarter and stood at 286.87 million at the end of June 2008.

GSM dominated as usual with 212.51 million subscribers, accounting for 74.08 per cent of the total wireless subscriber base, while the CDMA subscriber base, at 74.36 million, accounted for 25.9 per cent.

However, the growth rate for both segments (GSM and CDMA) during the quarter was lower than that in the previous quarter. While the GSM segment witnessed a growth rate of 10.28 per cent visà-vis 11.89 per cent in the quarter ended March 2008, the CDMA segment registered a growth rate of 8.76 per cent against 11.37 per cent in the previous quarter.

The rural subscriber base, at 70.83 million, accounted for 24.7 per cent of the total subscriber base and registered a growth rate of 12.07 per cent during the quarter.

Bharti Airtel maintained its position as the country's largest mobile operator with a subscriber base of 69.38 million, accounting for 24.18 per cent of the market. It was followed by Reliance Communications (50.79 million), Vodafone Essar (49.2 million) and BSNL (41.96 million). During the quarter, Tata Teleservices lost its fifth position to Idea Cellular and Aircel started services in Kolkata in May 2008.

Internet and broadband services
As of June 2008, there were 11.66 million internet subscribers, up from 11.09 million in March 2008, registering a growth of 5.09 per cent vis-à-vis a growth of 7.08 per cent in the previous quarter. In addition, there were 75.97 million wireless subscribers accessing data services, including the internet, through mobile handsets.

The average revenue per month for dial-up internet usage was Rs 225 at the end of June 2008, up from Rs 220 at the end of March 2008 –­ a growth of 2.27 per cent.

BSNL retained its top position with 5.94 million subscribers against 5.64 million at the end of March 2008. MTNL was next with 1.92 million subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel with a subscriber base of 0.87 million.

Meanwhile, the broadband subscriber base registered a growth rate of 13.17 per cent during the quarter and stood at 4.38 million vis-à-vis 3.87 million in the quarter ended March 2008. DSL was clearly the dominant technology, accounting for over 37.23 million subscribers. Of the remaining, about 419,028 used cable modem; 107,940 used Ethernet LAN; 44,870 used fibre and 17,878 used leased lines. There were also 57,023 radio customers.

BSNL and MTNL together accounted for 66.71 per cent market share with 23.28 million and 594,115 subscribers respectively. Airtel was the largest private operator with over 13 per cent market share.

The bandwidth owned by various internet service providers (ISPs) for their ISP operations and internet leased lines was reported to be 63 GB for downlinking and 62 GB for uplinking, as of June 2008, compared to 47 GB for downlinking and 42 GB for uplinking at the end of March 2008.

Financial performance
The total revenue from telecom services was Rs 353.11 billion, down by 1.28 per cent from Rs 357.7 billion in the previous quarter. For the first time, Bharti Airtel's gross revenue, at Rs 94.75 billion, was higher than BSNL's gross revenue at Rs 82.14 billion. However, in terms of adjusted gross revenue (AGR), BSNL retained its number one position at Rs 73.23 billion against Rs 68.74 billion for Bharti Airtel.

The AGR share of the public and private sector stood at 31.37 per cent and 68.63 per cent respectively, as against 37.41 per cent and 62.59 per cent respectively in the previous quarter.