The total number of active DTH subscribers has decreased from 65.50 million in quarter-ended June 2023 to 64.18 million in QE September 2023, broadcast and communications regulator TRAI said yesterday.

Since the introduction of DTH services in 2003, the sector has grown considerably. As of September 30, there were four pay DTH service providers in the country, apart from Doordarshan FreeDish for which neither the government nor TRAI has any subscriber data.

In its report, ‘The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators July–September, 2023’, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) stated that approximately 915 private satellite TV channels have been permitted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) for uplinking only/downlinking only/both uplinking & downlinking.

Out of the 904 permitted satellite TV channels, which are available for downlinking in India, 361 were pay TV channels. Out of  the 361 pay channels, 257 are SD pay TV channels and 104 are HD channels

Dwelling on the radio sector, the TRAI report stated apart from radio channels operated by pubcaster All India Radio, there are 388 operational private FM Radio channels in 113 cities, operated by 36 private operators. As compared to the previous quarter, there was no change in the number of operational FM Radio channels.

The advertising revenue reported by FM Radio operators during the quarter ending September 2023 stood at Rs.408.37 crore as against Rs.389.97 crore the previous quarter.

Total number of Internet subscribers increased from 895.83 million at the end of June-23 to 918.19 million at the end of September-23, registering a quarterly growth rate of  2.50 percent.

Out of 918.19 million internet subscribers, the wired internet subscriber number stood at 37.11 million,. while wireless internet subscriber base totalled 881.08 million.

The Internet subscriber base comprises broadband (885 million) and narrowband (33.19 million) subs

The broadband Internet subscriber base increased by 2.73 percent from 861.47 million at the end of June-23 to 885 million at the end of Sept-23. The narrowband Internet subscriber base decreased from 34.36 million at the end of June-23 to 33.19 million at the end of Sep-23.

Wireline subscribers increased from 30.31 million at the end of June-23 to 30.98 million at the end of Sept-23 with a quarterly rate of growth 2.19 percent and, on Y-O-Y basis, upped by 17.03 percent.

Wireline tele-density increased from 2.18 percent at the end of June-23 to 2.22 percent at the end of Sept-23 with quarterly rate of growth 1.96 percent.

Monthly Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for wireless service increased by 2.76 percent from Rs.145.64 in QE June-23 to Rs.149.66 in QE Sept-23. On a Y-O-Y basis, monthly ARPU for wireless service increased by 8.99 percent in this quarter.

The telecom license fee increased from Rs.5,246 crore for the QE June-23 to Rs.5,326 crore for QE Sept-23. The quarterly and the Y-O-Y rates of growth in license fees are 1.53 percent and 8.23 percent, respectively in this quarter.

With a net increase of 6.57 million subscribers during the quarter under review, the total wireless subscriber base increased from 1,143.58 million at the end of June-23 to 1,150.15 million at the end of Sept-23, registering a growth 0.57 percent over the previous quarter.