Despite Digital India talk, broadband subscribers less than 109 million by June

Despite Digital India talk, broadband subscribers less than 109 million by June

Trai

NEW DELHI: Following a growth of 4.21 per cent in mobile users, the number of broadband subscribers increased from 104.96 million at the end of May to 108.85 million at the end of June with monthly growth rate of a mere 3.71 per cent, despite the emphasis on Digital India. 

 

The Mobile devices users (phones and dongles) went up from 88.96 million to 92.7 million.  Fixed Wireless subscribers (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to-Point Radio & VSAT) users went up from 440,000 to 450,000, showing an increase of 1.96 per cent, while wired subscribers rose from 15.56 million to 56.7 million, showing a rise of just 0.9 per cent.

 

The top five service providers constituted 83.83 per cent market share of total broadband subscribers at the end of June. These service providers were Bharti Airtel (24.56 million), Vodafone (22.08 million), BSNL (18.20 million), Idea Cellular (16.67 million) and Reliance Communications Group (9.74 million). 

 

According to the figures released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), some wireless service providers exclude incidental data users from their subscriber base, based on minimum usage decided by them.

 

As on 30 June, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL (9.91 million), Bharti Airtel (1.47 million), MTNL (1.13 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (720,000) and You Broadband (460,000). 

 

The top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Bharti Airtel (23.09 million), Vodafone (22.07 million), Idea Cellular (16.67 million), Reliance Communications Group (9.63 million) and BSNL (8.29 million) as on 30 June.