Telephone subscribers cross 1.19 billion in India

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,181.13 million (over 1.18 billion) at the end of September to 1,190.33 million (over 1.19 billion) at the end of December, registering a 0.78 per cent growth over the previous quarter, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said on Tuesday.

The overall teledensity in India increased from 84.76 per cent to 85.23 per cent in the December quarter.

Telephone subscribers in urban areas increased from 658.46 million to 662.56 million while in rural areas, telephone subscribers increased from 522.66 million to 527.77 million.

On the other hand, the number of Internet subscribers reached 936.16 million at the end of December 2023, registering a quarterly rate of growth 1.96 per cent from 918.19 million at the end of September, the TRAI said.

Out of 936.16 million internet subscribers, the number of wired internet subscribers is 38.57 million while wireless internet subscribers are at 897.59 million.

The Internet subscriber base consists of broadband internet subscriber base of 904.54 million and narrowband subscriber base of 31.62 million, the report said.