While the overall number of telephone subscribers in India decreased from 1,202.57 million at the end of June-21 to 1,189.15 million at the end of Sep-21— registering a decline rate of 1.12 percent over the previous quarter — wireline subscribers increased to 23.13 million at the end of Sep-21 vs. wireless subscribers, according to new data from TRAI on Monday.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which released its Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report for the quarter ending September 2021, showed some interesting trends.

Wireless tele-density decreased from 86.48 percent at the end of June-21 to 85.20 percent at the end of Sep-21 with quarterly decline rate of 1.48 percent.

Wireline subscribers increased from 21.74 million at the end of June-21 to 23.13 million at the end of Sep-21 with a quarterly growth rate of 6.42 percent and an increase of 15.21 percent on Y-o-Y basis at the end of quarter-ending (QE) Sep-21.

The overall tele-density in India decreased from 88.07 percent as in QE Jun-21 to 86.89 percent in QE Sep-21.

Telephone subscribers in urban areas decreased from 666.10 million at the end of June-21 to 659.09 million at the end of Sep-21 and urban tele-density also decreased from 140.86 percent to 138.72 percent during the same period.

Rural telephone subscribers decreased from 536.47 million at the end of June-21 to 530.06 million at the end of Sep-21 and rural tele-density also decreased from 60.10 percent to 59.33 percent during the same period.

With a net decrease of 14.81 million subscribers during the quarter, the total wireless subscriber base decreased from 1,180.83 million at the end of June-21 to 1,166.02 million at the end of Sep-21, registering a decline rate of 1.25 percent over the previous quarter. On Y-o-Y basis, wireless subscriptions increased at the rate of 1.52 percent during the year.

Broadcast & Cable Sector Performance: A total of 906 private satellite TV channels have been permitted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) for uplinking and downlink as on September 30, 2021, TRAI said.

As per the reporting done by the broadcasters, there are 348 satellite pay channels as on September-end 2021, which include 252 SD (standard definition) satellite pay TV channels and 96 HD (high definition) satellite pay TV channels.

During the QE September 2021, there were four pay DTH service providers in the country, in addition to Indian pubcaster Doordarshan’s FTA DTH platform, DD Free Dish.

Pay DTH platforms had a total active subscriber base of around 68.89 million in QE September 2021. The subscriber base of Free Dish was not listed by TRAI.

Apart from the radio stations operated by All India Radio, the radio public broadcaster, there were 385 operational private FM Radio stations in 112 cities with 34 operational FM radio broadcasters as on September 30, 2021.

The reported advertisement revenue for private FM radio operators as on September 2021 stood at Rs 294.78 crore as against Rs 148.02 crore in respect of 384 private FM radio stations for the previous quarter, June 30, 2021.

There were 339 operational community radio stations in the country.

Internet: Total number of Internet subscribers increased from 833.71 million at the end of June-21 to 834.29 million at the end of Sep-21, registering a quarterly growth rate of 0.07 percent.

Out of the 834.29 million internet subscribers, wired Internet subscribers base stood at 24.47 million, while wireless Internet subscribers numbered 809.82 million.

The broadband Internet subscriber base increased by 0.27% from 792.78 million at the end of June-21 to 794.88 million at the end of Sep-21, while the narrowband subscriber base showed a decline.