An increasing number of the rural population is becoming mobile savvy. Data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), in the quarter ended December 2009, indicated a rapid increase in the subscriber base from rural areas.
In the last quarter, while urban areas contributed to 65 per cent of net telephone additions, this quarter it declined to 57 per cent. This uptake in rural subscription was recorded in the wireless segment. The share of rural subscribers now stands at 31 per cent.
The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 562.16 million in the last quarter, registering a growth of 10.4 per cent. The overall teledensity of the country has reached 47.88 per cent.
Urban subscribers are, however, quickly inching towards high-end internet technology. The share of broadband subscribers out of the total internet users increased to 51.3 per cent compared to 49.3 per cent in September 2009. The total number of internet subscribers stands at 15.24 million.
Despite the increase in the subscription base, the companies have registered a reduced Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) due to reduced margins from the tariff war.
The ARPU for GSM-full mobility service, declined by 12.4 per cent to Rs 144 in the third quarter, as opposed to Rs 164 from the previous quarter. The minutes of usage per subscriber for GSM (full mobility service) declined by 2.82 per cent to 411 from 423.
However, CDMA players have performed better than GSM service providers. Though the ARPU for CDMA declined by 7 per cent, minutes of usage per subscriber went up by 3.2 per cent.
The gross revenue of the telecom sector for the quarter ending December 2009 stood at Rs 39,756.64 crore, an increasing of 2.32 per cent.