Broadband subscriber base crosses 6.2mn

BANGALORE, INDIA: The number of broadband subscribers (with a download speed of 256 Kbps or more) is 6.22 million for the quarter ending March 2009 as against 5.52 million for quarter ending December 2008. The growth rate of broadband subscribers in this quarter is 12.68 percent.

This is according to TRAI's latest report on telecom landscape in India, titled "The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators Report".

The other findings of the report for the quarter ending March 2009 are:

Internet and Broadband Growth:

(i) Internet wireline subscribers reaches 13.54 million for the quarter ending March 2009 as compared to 12.85 million during the previous quarter registering a growth of approx. 5.30%.

(iii) There are 117.82 million wireless Internet subscribers for the quarter ending March 2009.

Subscriber Growth:

(i) The total subscriber base of wireline and wireless services reaches 429.72 million for quarter ending March 2009 as against 384.79 million for quarter ending December 2008, thus registering an increase of 11.68% during the quarter.

(ii) The tele-density for quarter ending March 2009 reached 36.98 as compared to 33.23 for quarter ending December 2008.

(iii) The subscriber base for wireless services has increased from 346.89 million for quarter ending December 2008 to 391.76 million for quarter ending March 2009.

(iv) Subscriber base of Wireline service has increased from 37.90 million for quarter ending December 2008 to 37.96 million for quarter ending March 2009.

(v) Rural Wireline subscriber base has decreased from 10.68 million for quarter ending December 2008 to 10.58 million for quarter ending March 2009, thus showing a decrease of 0.93%. The rural wireless subscriber base has increased from 93.15 million for quarter ending December 2008 to 109.71 million for quarter ending March 2009, registering a growth of 17.77%.

(vi) The number of Public Call Offices (PCOs) in the country has increased from 5.98 million for quarter ending December 2008 to 6.20 million for quarter ending March 2009, registering an increase of 3.68%.

ARPU Trends:

(i) For GSM segment, all India blended ARPU per month has decreased by 6.82% from Rs. 220/- in December 2008 to Rs. 205/- in March 2009.

(ii) For GSM segment, ARPU for postpaid service has shown a decline of 2.8 percent from Rs. 559/- in December 2008 to Rs. 543/- in March 2009. Prepaid service has also shown a decline of six percent in ARPU from Rs. 192/- in December 2008 to Rs. 181/- in March 2009.

(iii) For CDMA segment, all India blended ARPU (per month) for the quarter ending March 2009 is Rs. 99/- as compared to Rs. 111/- for the quarter ending December 2008.

(iv) For CDMA segment, the huge difference between postpaid and prepaid ARPU noticed in the last quarter continued to remain valid for the current quarter as well. Postpaid ARPU has been 5 times that of prepaid ARPU, which perhaps, could be attributed to declining importance of processing fee on recharge coupon/ voucher purchased by prepaid subscribers. The gap is lowest in Circle C (3.68 times) and highest in Circle A (5.59 times).