|
 The surge in the number of new
telecom subscribers continued during February 2006 with a net addition of
about 4.55 million phones, with an average daily addition of 1.6 lakh lines. The total number of telephones in the
country crossed 135.5 million, as against a total of 131 million as on January
31, 2006,
i.e. a growth of 3.43%. The growth in February 2006 was 39% over that of
February 2005. Almost the entire growth has been in the mobile segment,
with GSM contributing 3.17 million and CDMA contributing 1.13 million. The
additions in the fixed line segment has been about 0.25 million.
Tele-density
The overall tele-density recorded a steady increase to 12.1% in
February 2006 from 11.8% in January 2006, as compared with a tele-density of 8.98% as on February
28, 2005.
Growth trend – Circle wise
Maximum
growth rate in GSM segment has been in North East (16.47%) followed by Assam (9.65%), West Bengal (9.43%), Orissa
(9.4%), Bihar (8.52%), Rajasthan (8.3%) and Andhra
Pradesh (8.03%).
Similarly,
in the CDMA segment, subscriber base has registered a growth of 5.08% with
a net addition of 1.35 million subscribers. Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka are the major
contributors to this growth.
The highest
growth in new connections in February 2006 was in Andhra Pradesh with an
addition of about 0.5 million.
Telecom Tariffs
BSNL/MTNL have announced a new tariff plan of Rs.1 per minute STD
tariff for any destination. This tariff has been emulated by some private
service providers also. With the reduction in Access Deficit Charges, it is
expected that the rate of growth of telecom subscribers is going to
increase further.
Broadband Connections
The growth
of broadband connections is now picking up and at the end of February 2006,
over 9,00,000 broadband connections were provided
and coverage of broadband connectivity by public sector service providers
has increased to 250 towns.
Rural Telephony
The Union
Budget for 2006-07 highlighted the need for bridging the digital divide
between rural and urban India. Accordingly, a provision of Rs.1500
crores has been made for 2006-07 under the USOF
for improving rural connectivity. A Bill will also be introduced shortly to
amend the existing Indian Telegraph Act for extending financial support to
cellular telephony in rural areas. During 2005-06, an amount of Rs. 1401.72 crores has
already been disbursed under the USOF towards improving the telecom network
in the rural areas.
Under Bharat Nirman Programme, a total number of 19,500 Village Public
Telephones (VPTs) have been provided till the end
of February 2006. The remaining about 47,000 villages (approximate) having
more than 100 population and not lying in thick
forest area etc. will be covered by November 2007.
Month wise trends in the total number
of phones during the current year (upto February
2006)
|
Description
|
Position
at the end of the month
|
Growth
%age
|
|
Apr
‘05
|
May’05
|
Jun
‘05
|
Jul
‘05
|
Aug
‘05
|
Sep
‘05
|
Oct
‘05
|
Nov
‘05
|
Dec
‘05
|
Jan’06
|
Feb’06
|
Feb’06
/ Jan’06
|
|
Fixed
phones (in mn)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Public
|
40.94
|
40.82
|
40.76
|
40.71
|
40.69
|
40.69
|
40.70
|
40.71
|
40.69
|
40.70
|
40.7
|
-
|
|
Private
|
4.57
|
4.86
|
5.18
|
5.46
|
5.74
|
6.09
|
6.40
|
6.64
|
7.01
|
7.26
|
8.8
|
21.2
|
|
Total
|
45.51
|
45.68
|
45.94
|
46.17
|
46.43
|
46.78
|
47.10
|
47.35
|
47.70
|
47.96
|
49.50
|
3.21%
|
|
Mobile
phones (in mn)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Public
|
11.33
|
11.59
|
11.98
|
12.56
|
13.20
|
13.82
|
14.46
|
15.36
|
16.48
|
17.67
|
19.0
|
7.5%
|
|
Private
|
42.35
|
43.77
|
45.37
|
47.28
|
50.74
|
52.79
|
55.21
|
57.96
|
61.61
|
65.28
|
66.5
|
1.9%
|
|
Total
|
53.68
|
55.36
|
57.35
|
59.84
|
63.94
|
66.61
|
69.67
|
73.32
|
78.09
|
82.95
|
85.5
|
3.07%
|
|
Total
Phones (mn)
|
99.17
|
101.05
|
103.29
|
106.02
|
110.37
|
113.39
|
116.77
|
120.67
|
125.79
|
130.91
|
135.5
|
3.43%
|
|
Teledensity
|
9.02
|
9.17
|
9.37
|
9.60
|
9.98
|
10.24
|
10.53
|
10.87
|
11.32
|
11.76
|
12.10
|
3.7%
|
|
VPTs (in lakh)
|
5.31
|
5.31
|
5.32
|
5.33
|
5.34
|
5.35
|
5.37
|
5.38
|
5.39
|
5.41
|
5.43
|
0.4%
|
|
Rural DELs (mn)
|
13.60
|
13.64
|
13.65
|
13.71
|
13.80
|
13.92
|
13.93
|
14.06
|
14.18
|
14.26
|
14.36
|
0.7%
|
The month wise position of teledensity (unto February 2006)
|