Tele density in India crosses 33 per cent

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said on Wednesday that the total number of telephone connections (Wireline and Wireless) added in the country during December 2008 was 10.66 million, as compared to 10.18 million connections added in November 2008.

With this the total number of telephone connections in the country touched 384.79 million at the end of December 2008 and the overall tele-density has reached 33.23 per cent per cent, from 32.34 per cent in November 2008.

The total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA & WLL(F)) base stood at 346.89 million at the end of December 2008. A total of 10.81 million wireless subscribers have been added during the month of December 2008 as against 10.35 million wireless subscribers added during the month of November 2008, said a TRAI press release.

In the wireline segment, the subscriber base has decreased to 37.90 million in the month of December 2008 as against 38.05 million subscribers in November 2008 registering a drop of 0.15 million.

The total Broadband subscriber base has reached 5.45 million by the end of December 2008 as compared to 5.28 million by the end of November 2008, TRAI said.