India's telephone subscribers stood at 105 crore in February: TRAI

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,043.29 million at the end of January 2016 to 1,051.88 million at the end of February 2016, showing a monthly growth rate of 0.82%, according to data released by India`s telecom regulator on Tuesday.

The urban subscription increased from 603.85 million at the end of January to 608.42 million at the end of February and the rural subscription increased from 439.43 million to 443.46 million during the same period, said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The monthly growth rates of urban and rural subscription were 0.76% and 0.91% respectively during the month of February, while the overall tele-density in India increased from 82.30 at the end of January to 82.89 at the end of February.

The total wireless subscriber base increased from 1,017.97 million at the end of January to 1,026.66 million at the end of February, registering a monthly growth rate of 0.85%, while wireless tele-density in India increased from 80.30 at the end of January to 80.91 at the end of February.

Wireline subscriber base declined from 25.32 million at the end of January to 25.22 million at the end of February. Net reduction in the wireline subscriber base was 0.10 million with a monthly decline rate of 0.41%.

"In the month of February, a total of 5.10 million requests were received for mobile number portability (MNP). With this, the cumulative MNP requests increased from 199.62 million at the end of January to 204.73 million at the end of February, since the implementation of MNP," the TRAI said.

"As per the reports received from the service providers, the number of broadband subscribers increased from 140.10 million at the end of January to 144.87 million at the end of February with a monthly growth rate of 3.40%," it added.