ITV

Tag: WLL

  • Trai: Broadband connections touch 1 million; mobile users nearing 81 million

    Trai: Broadband connections touch 1 million; mobile users nearing 81 million

    MUMBAI: Broadband connections in India have touched just one million, way behind the government’s target of three million for December 2005.

    Internet subscriber base, however, has crossed 7.5 million, exceeding the target of 6 million. “This shows that there is a demand for both broadband and internet. But the service providers are not being able to fulfill the broadband demand,” the telecom regulatory authority of India (Trai) said in a release, putting its estimates on the growth of the industry.

    Telephony services has shown a record growth of 4.97 million subscribers during January 2006 as compared to 4.92 million subscribers in December 2005, according to a compilation done by Trai based on latest reports from operators. During the first 10 months of fiscal 2005-2006 (till end-January 06) around 31.41 million subscribers have been added, Trai said.

    For the mobile segment 4.69 million subscribers have been added during January 2006, as compared to 4.46 million in December 2005. While 3.52 million GSM subscribers were added, CDMA subscribers grew by 1.17 million. In comparison, 3.19 million GSM and 1.27 million CDMA subscribers were added last month.

    During the first ten months of the current financial year, about 28.39 million mobile subscribers were added, making it a total of 80.61 million mobile subscribers at the end of January, 2006.

    In the fixed segment, a total of 0.28 million subscribers were added during January 2006, which were predominantly WLL (F). With this, the total subscriber base of fixed lines have reached 49.21 million. The gross subscribers’ base consisting of fixed as well as mobile has reached around 130 million.

    The tele-density at the end of January 2006 has reached near 12 per cent as compared to 11.43 at the end of previous month, Trai said.

  • Telecom growth continues; Mobile subscribers crosses fixed line subscribers

    Telecom growth continues; Mobile subscribers crosses fixed line subscribers

    NEW DELHI: As per a compilation done by TRAI based on latest reports from operators, the subscriber base for telephony services continued to maintain its growth pattern during October 2004 also. In the month of October 2004, around 1.7 million subscribers were added as compared to around 2 million subscribers in September 2004.

    During the first 7 months of year 2004-2005 more than 12 million subscribers have been added. For mobile segment 1.53 million subscribers have been added during October 2004 as compared to 1.84 million in September 2004, says a TRAI release.

    The mobile additions consist of 1.20 million GSM subscribers and 0.33 million CDMA subscribers. During the first seven months of current financial year approximately 11 million mobile subscribers were added, making it a total of 44.51 million mobile subscribers at the end of October 2004. In the fixed segment, a total of 0.16 million subscribers were added during October 2004, which were predominantly WLL (F). With this the total subscriber base of fixed lines have reached 43.96 million. Thus the number of mobile subscribers has crossed fixed telephony subscribers in the country. The gross subscribers’ base consisting of fixed as well as mobile has touched 8.85 million resulting into the overall tele-density of around 8.24.

    International Comparison:

    An international research group has recently released the statistics for growth of mobile telephony till June 2004 for various countries.

    The salient features of this report on Indian telecom services are as under:

    India has recorded the highest annual mobile subscriber growth (over 100 per cent) from the 2nd quarter 2003 onwards.

    The annual growth rate for the quarter ending March 2004 and June 2004 was 140 per cent and 116 per cent respectively, which was highest among 50 countries covered in survey (all major countries have been covered in this survey). This unprecedented growth has been due to the fact that the mobile tariffs in India are the lowest. After June 2004 there has been further fall in the tariffs of mobile telephony.

    The Revenue Per Minute for mobile service was of the order of Rs.1.80 for the quarter ending June 2004 and has been reported to be the lowest, along with China.

    The lowest tariffs in the country have resulted in increase in the monthly minutes of use, which were 309 at the end of June 2004 as against 295 for the previous quarter. The ARPU at the end of 2nd quarter 2004 remained the same at US$ 11, which is marginally higher than ARPU in China at $10. Had there been no fall in tariffs, the minutes of use would have gone down drastically affecting the growth of mobile telephony in the country.

    The average mobile spending in India is 0.8 per cent of GDP. The highest mobile spending of 4.8 per cent of GDP is in Nigeria. The mobile spending in China is 2.5 per cent, Malaysia 2.8 per cent, South Africa 3.4 per cent, Singapore 1.5 per cent and Indonesia 1.4 per cent of GDP. With the continuous decline in tariffs and improvement in services, it is expected that the mobile spending in the country would go up and mobile telephony subscriber base is expected to grow further, the addressable market going up with every reduction in tariff and also with expansion of the network in the interiors adding to population coverage of the network.

  • Bangalore BSNL to clear backlog with WLL connections

    Bangalore BSNL to clear backlog with WLL connections

    BANGALORE: Confronted with a backlog of approximately 12,000 applications for telephone connections, BSNL Bangalore is now planning to offer its ‘Tarang’ WLL connections to subscribers in areas where cable connections are unavailable. The roll out will kick off in March 2005.

    Plans to improve Tarang’s connectivity are also on the anvil. According to Bangalore Telecom District Principal GM Ganesh, approximately 3000 applications were pending in the urban areas as against 9000 in the rural. He said the company was in the process of strengthening the Tarang infrastructure by putting up more towers.”

    The present capacity for Tarang is 28,000 lines, with pans to increase this by another 15,000. As on April 2004 around 20,000 connections were provided in the city. Some persons had voluntarily withdrawn on their own, while some were disconnected by BSNL due to non-payment of bills,” Ganesh offers.

    Offering some numbers Ganesh claimed that BSNL was doing well. Against around 5000-6000 withdrawals, the company had fresh application for 7000-8000 connections per month. The number of mobile connections in Bangalore was equal to the landline connections – around 960,000 numbers each, he says.

    BSNL has also redesigned it’s website – to provide additional features such as itemized bill details of STD and ISD calls made by a customer over the last four months, and registration of landline complaints.

  • Growth in telecom accelerates in July: Trai

    MUMBAI: As per a compilation done by Trai based on latest reports from operators, the subscriber base for telephony services accelerated its growth pattern during July 2004 also. In the month of July 2004, around 1.95 million subscribers were added as compared to 1.54 million subscribers in June 2004.

    For mobile segment 1.72 million subscribers have been added during July 2004 as compared to 1.43 million in June 2004.

    During the first four months of current financial year approximately 5.85 million mobile subscribers have been added, making it a total of 39.45 million mobile subscribers at the end of July 2004, said an official release.

    In the fixed segment, a total of 0.23 million were added during July 2004, as compared to 0.11 million in June 2004. These were predominantly WLL (F). With this the total subscriber base of fixed lines have reached 43.45 million.

    The gross subscribers base consisting of fixed as well as mobile have touched around 82.90 million resulting into the overall tele-density of around 7.60, added the official communique.