The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recently released the performance indicator report (PIR) for the quarter ended June 2011. The report reviews growth trends in the telecom services sector for the period April-June 2011 and is compiled on the basis of information furnished by the service providers.

According to the report, the total number of telecom subscribers in the country (wireless and wireline) increased from 846.32 million at end-March 2011 to 885.99 million at end-June 2011. This implies a sequential growth of 4.69 per cent over the previous quarter as against 7.5 per cent during the quarter ended March 2011. This reflects a year-on-year growth of 31.91 per cent over the same quarter of the previous year. The overall teledensity in India stood at 73.97 per cent as on June 30, 2011.

With 40.11 million net additions during the quarter, the wireless segment continued on an upward trajectory. The total wireless (GSM+CDMA) subscriber base registered a growth of 4.94 per cent over the previous quarter and increased from 811.59 million at end-March 2011 to 851.7 million at end-June 2011. The year-on-year growth over the same quarter of the previous year was 34.02 per cent. Wireless teledensity increased from 67.98 per cent to 71.11 per cent in the same quarter.

The wireline user base, on the other hand, registered a 1.34 per cent decline to stand at 34.73 million. The rural subscriber base grew from 282.23 million in March 2011 to 298.05 million in June 2011. Consequently, rural teledensity increased from 33.79 to 35.6 per cent. The urban subscriber base also increased, from 564.08 million to 587.94 million during the same period, with urban teledensity touching 163.13 per cent.

In the quarter ended June 2011, 60.14 per cent of the total net additions were in urban areas as compared to 61.96 per cent in the previous quarter. Both urban and rural subscriptions recorded a decline in the growth rate during the quarter ended June 2011. The rural growth rate dipped from 8.65 per cent in March 2011 to 5.6 per cent in June 2011, and urban subscriptions declined from 6.93 per cent in the quarter ended March 2011 to 4.23 per cent in the quarter ended June 2011. 

Wireline

The country’s wireline subscriber base continued to decline. It fell from 34.73 million at the end of March 2011 to 34.29 million at the end of June 2011, bringing down the wireline teledensity from 2.91 per cent to 2.86 per cent for the quarter under review.

The rural subscriber base marked a year-on-year decline of 10.42 per cent, from 9.46 million at end-June 2010 to 8.47 million at end-June 2011. During the same period, the urban subscriber base recorded a decline of 3.37 per cent.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) continued to lead the segment with a market share of 72.63 per cent and a subscriber base of 24.72 million. However, for the quarter ended June 2011, its subscriber base decreased by 2 per cent over the previous quarter. Tata Teleservices Limited recorded the maximum net additions (0.04 million subscribers) during this quarter. Circle-wise, Delhi and Orissa were the only service areas that showed positive wireline growth.

The number of public call offices in the country stood at 2.83 million at end-June 2011 as compared to 3.08 million at the end of March 2011. The decline over the corresponding quarter of 2010 was 29.7 per cent.

The number of village public telephones (VPTs) decreased from 585,000 at the end of March 2011 to 583,000 at the end of June 2011. Currently, 98.1 per cent of the total 593,731 inhabited villages in the country (as per Census 2001) are connected.

Wireless

The total wireless (GSM+CDMA) subscriber base increased from 811.59 million at the end of March 2011 to 851.7 million at the end of June 2011, indicating a growth of 4.94 per cent. Wireless teledensity rose from 67.98 per cent to 71.11 per cent. The number of rural wireless subscribers increased from 273.54 million to 289.57 million.

GSM services continued to dominate the wireless market. The GSM subscriber base stood at 641.73 million, accounting for 85.31 per cent of the total wireless subscriber market. The CDMA segment had a total of 110.46 million subscribers and a market share of 14.68 per cent.

Bharti Airtel, with a subscriber base of 169.19 million, had the highest share in the wireless market. The company also led in the rural wireless segment with 69.25 million subscribers.

Among CDMA operators, Reliance Communications (RCOM) maintained its lead position with a subscriber base of 55.03 million, accounting for a market share of 48.12 per cent.

Mobile ARPUs

The stiff competition in the market continued to impact operator ARPUs. The monthly ARPU for GSM mobile services declined by 2.55 per cent from Rs 100 in the quarter ended March 2011 to Rs 98 in the quarter ended June 2011. The decrease over the corresponding quarter of 2010 was 19.05 per cent. The monthly ARPU for CDMA mobile services registered a decline of 2.01 per cent from Rs 66 in the quarter ended March 2011 to Rs 64 in the quarter ended June 2011.

Mobile usage pattern

In spite of cheaper call rates and innovative tariff plans, there was a steep decline in the monthly minutes of usage (MoUs) for both GSM and CDMA services. GSM MoUs declined by 1.45 per cent, from 349 minutes in the quarter ended March 2011 to 344 minutes in the quarter ended June 2011. For CDMA subscribers, the monthly MoUs per subscriber fell from 263 minutes in the quarter ended March 2011 to 238 minutes in the quarter ended June 2011, a decline of 9.41 per cent.

Wireless QoS

During the period under review, the performance of wireless service providers deteriorated with respect to quality of service (QoS) parameters such as accessibility of call centres or customer care centres; fault incidences per 100 subscribers per month; congestion at the point of interconnection; and the time taken for refund of deposits after closure. Their performance improved with respect to parameters like the percentage of faults repaired by the next working day; resolution of billing/charging/credit issues; percentage of faults repaired within five days; and addressing metering and billing credibility for post-paid connections.

Internet and broadband

The number of internet subscribers increased from 19.67 million at end-March 2011 to 20.33 million at end-June 2011, registering a quarterly growth of 3.33 per cent. BSNL accounted for 57.21 per cent of the market with an internet subscriber base of 11.63 million at the end of June 2011. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited was at second position (2.44 million) followed by RCOM (2.43 million). The 10 leading internet service providers together accounted for 94.53 per cent of the subscriber base.