INDIA ADDED A WHOPPING 35 MILLION MOBILE PHONE USERS IN APRIL-JUNE QUARTER. WIRELESS TOTAL NOW 427 MILLION, 92% OF ALL PHONES!

MUMBAI, Oct 02, 2009 - India added a whopping 35.5 million wireless telephone users during the quarter ended on June 30 this year, taking the wireless subscriber base to 427.2 million.

The wireless user base grew by 9.06 per cent during the April-June quarter of this year to 427.2million from 391.7 million in the preceding quarter, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement.

The total telecom subscriber base (wireline and wireless) touched 464.8 million for the quarter ended June this year from 429.7 million in the quarter ended March, registering an increase of 8.17 per cent.

The tele-density (number of telephones per 100 people) for the quarter ended June reached 39.86 compared to 36.98 in the previous one, TRAI said.

However, the all-India blended Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) per month for the GSM segment (full mobility) decreased by 10 per cent to Rs 185 in June from Rs 205 in March, while the ARPU for the CDMA segment during the same period dipped 7.2 per cent to Rs 92 from Rs 99.

The subscriber base of wireline service has declined to 37.5 million at the end of June, taking the wireline tele-density to 3.22.