The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released the performance indicator report for the quarter ended June 2010. The report outlines the broad perspective and growth trends of telecom services for the period April-June 2010. It has been compiled by TRAI on the basis of information furnished by the service providers.

According to the report, the total number of telephone subscribers (wireless and wireline) in the country increased from 621.28 million at the end of March 2010 to 671.69 million at the end of June 2010, registering a sequential growth of 8.1 per cent. However, the number is lower than the 10.52 per cent growth registered in the quarter ended March 2010. The sector saw a year-on-year growth of 44.5 per cent over the same quarter in the previous year.  The overall teledensity reached 56.83 per cent as on June 30, 2010.

The number of users in the urban areas grew from 420.47 million in March 2010 to 452.59 million in June 2010, taking the urban teledensity from 119.73 per cent to 128.2 per cent. The rural subscriber base also increased from 200.81 million to 219.09 million, leading to a growth in rural teledensity from 24.29 per cent to 26.43 per cent.

About 63 per cent of the total net additions have been in urban areas as compared to 56 per cent in the previous quarter. Rural subscriptions, however, recorded a slide in the rate of growth from 15.06 per cent in March 2010 to 9.11 per cent in June 2010. The rate of growth for urban subscribers also declined from 8.47 per cent to 7.64 per cent during the same period. The share of rural subscribers increased slightly to 32.6 per cent of the total subscription from 32.3 per cent in March 2010.

Wireline

During the quarter under review, the wireline subscriber base fell further from 36.96 million to 36.18 million, bringing down the wireline teledensity from 3.14 per cent to 3.06 per cent.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) continued to dominate the fixed line market with a 74.5 per cent market share despite facing a decline in its subscriber base from 36.96 million as of March 2010 to 36.18 million at the end of June 2010.

In terms of quality of service (QoS), the performance of wireline service providers improved over the previous quarter on parameters such as percentage of faults repaired within five days; call completion rate (in the local network); point of interconnection (PoI) congestion; metering and billing credibility; resolution of billing/ charging/credit and validity complaints; and closure of service within seven days.

The number of village public telephones decreased from 576,000 in March 2010 to 574,000 in June 2010. Currently, of the 593,731 inhabited villages (Census 2001) in India, 96.7 per cent have been connected.

Wireless

The total wireless (GSM+CDMA) subscriber base increased from 584.32 million at the end of March 2010 to 635.51 million at the end of June 2010, registering a growth of 8.76 per cent. During the quarter, 51.18 million subscribers were added, taking the wireless teledensity from 49.6 per cent to 53.77 per cent. Rural wireless subscribers also increased from 190.88 million in March 2010 to 209.63 million in June 2010.

GSM services continued to dominate the wireless market with a subscriber base of 527.62 million in June 2010 (a 10.2 per cent growth over the previous quarter), accounting for 83 per cent of the total wireless subscriber market. CDMA services, with a market share of 17 per cent, had a total of 107.88 million subscribers in June 2010.

Bharti Airtel maintained its position as the country’s largest mobile operator with a subscriber base of 136.62 million as of June 2010. Amongst CDMA service providers, Reliance Communications dominated the market with a subscriber base of 56.48 million (total mobile subscriber base 110.81 million). Vodafone Essar trailed with 109 million subscribers, followed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) with 72.7 million and Tata Teleservices with 72.53 million.

Mobile ARPUs

The average revenue per user (ARPU) for GSM mobile services declined by 7 per cent from Rs 131 in March 2010 to Rs 122 while the year-on-year decrease for the same quarter was 33.9 per cent. The ARPU for CDMA mobile services declined by 3 per cent, from Rs 76 in March 2010 to Rs 74 in June 2010 and by 19.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

Mobile usage pattern

The minutes of usage (MoU) per subscriber for GSM services declined by 2.2 per cent from 410 minutes in March 2010 to 401 minutes in the quarter ended June 2010. The outgoing MoUs (195 minutes) declined by 3.16 per cent and incoming MoUs (206 minutes) by 1.36 per cent. The MoU pattern for CDMA subscribers showed a decline of 2.4 per cent from 307 minutes in March 2010 to 299 minutes in June 2010. The outgoing MoUs (146 minutes) registered a marginal decline of 0.45 per cent while incoming MoUs (154 minutes) declined by 4.26 per cent.

Wireless quality of service

The performance of wireless service providers deteriorated during the March-June 2010 quarter as compared to the previous quarter with respect to QoS parameters like base transceiver stations (BTSs) accumulated downtime (not available for service); worst affected BTSs due to downtime; call set-up success rate (within the licensee’s own network); TCH congestion; call drop rate; worst affected cells having more than 3 per cent TCH call drop rate; metering and billing credibility – prepaid; closure of service complied with within seven days; and time taken for the refund of deposits after closure.

On the other hand, wireless service providers’ performance improved in the quarter on parameters like PoI congestion; metering and billing credibility – post-paid; resolution of billing/charging/validity complaints; period of applying credit/waiver/ adjustment to the customer’s account from the date of resolution of complaints; accessibility of call centre/customer care; and percentage of calls answered by the operators (voice-to-voice) within 60 seconds.

Internet and broadband

The number of internet subscribers increased from 16.18 million in March 2010 to 16.72 million at the end of June 2010, registering a quarterly growth rate of 3.33 per cent. The top 10 internet service providers (ISPs) together held 95 per cent of the total internet subscriber base.

Among the 167 ISPs, BSNL retained its top position with a market share of 55.84 per cent and a subscriber base of 9.67 million at the end of June 2010 as compared to 9.19 million at the end of March 2010.

The number of broadband subscribers increased from 8.71 million in March 2010 to 9.47 million in June 2010, registering a quarterly growth of 9.97 per cent and a year-on-year growth of 43.09 per cent. The share of broadband subscribers in total internet subscribers increased from 54.2 per cent in March 2010 to 56.7 per cent in June 2010. Of the total broadband subscribers, 86.6 per cent were using digital subscriber line technology.

VSAT

As of March 2009, there were eight operators providing very small aperture terminal (VSAT) services in India. The total number of VSAT subscribers increased to 128,406 at the end of June 2010. The net additions during the quarter were 4,311 and the growth rate was 3.47 per cent. Bharti Airtel continued to be the market leader with a VSAT subscriber base of 39,672, followed by Hughes Communications Limited (38,463) and HCL Comnet (27,425).