Indian Subs Soar Again

India's mobile operators added 14.38 million mobile connections in July, on the back of increased activity in rural areas, according to the latest statistics from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) .

India now has 441.66 million mobile connections in total.

Total additions were up on June (12 million additions) and were the highest since March, when additions topped 15 million. (See India Sets Subs Record.)

Surprisingly, the highest growth rate came from the rural C circles. Rural teledensity was just 12.6 percent at the end of 2008, according to the TRAI's figures, leaving significant opportunities as the growth rate slows in urban areas.

In July, however, mobile connections in the rural C circles increased 71.3 percent year on year, compared to 52.3 percent for B circles, 45.1 percent for A circles, and 36.7 percent for the major metro centers.

The C circles added 2.37 million and accounted for 16.48 percent of the total for the month. Of all the rural circles, Bihar in the northeast of the country, saw the most activity, as illustrated in the table below.

Table 1: C Circle Subscriber Growth

Circle	July '09	July '08	Y-on-Y growth	Month additions
Assam	6,580,368	4,484,274	46.74	183,880
Bihar	25,384,118	13,244,737	91.65	1,215,785
Himachal Pradesh	3,685,840	2,487,204	48.19	77,298
Jammy & Kashmir	4,259,857	2,529,384	68.41	192,436
Northeast	3,947,141	2,005,155	96.85	110,648
Orissa	10,588,431	6,021,778	75.84	592,464
Total	54,445,755	30,772,532	Average: 71.28	2,372,511
Source: TRAI

Over 1.2 million connections were added in Bihar as competition increased following the launch by new entrant, Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd. , which secured 27,510 subscribers in its first month of operation in the circle. Bihar was also the second most successful circle for Idea Cellular Ltd. , which itself only launched in Bihar in October 2008.

Idea took 20 percent of the additions in Bihar in July, the second-largest share behind Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Mumbai: BHARTIARTL). Tata Teleservices Ltd. accounted for the smallest number of additions in circle in the month it began the rollout of its GSM Tata Docomo services in the south of the country.(See Tata GSM Services Go Live.)

For more information on which operators are doing the most in rural areas, see the table below.

Table 2: C Circle Subscribers by Operator

	Circle	Assam	Bihar	H&P	J&K	Northeast	Orissa	Total
Operator	Aircel	47,465	242,089	15,935	82,810	48,737	12,731	449,767
	Bharti Airtel	75,469	306,261	27,421	30,828	35,134	172,781	647,894
	BSNL	9,106	63,910	9,837	-812	4,190	55,116	141,347
	Idea	-	247,661	5,063	-	-	8,090	260,814
	Reliance Communication	8,691	99,026	9,179	36,072	248	68,604	221,820
	Sistema Shyam Teleservices	-	27,510	-	-	-	-	27,510
	Tata Teleservices	3,657	38,691	1,268	7,113	4,898	264,261	319,888
	Vodafone Essar	39,492	190,638	8,595	36,425	17,441	10,881	303,472
	Total	183,880	1,215,786	77,298	192,436	110,648	592,464	2,372,511
Source: TRAI

It was a very different story in wireline services, where subscriptions declined from 37.54 million in June to 37.41 million in July. The brunt of the decline was taken by the government-owned telcos, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) , which lost 170,000 subscribers, while the major private telcos increased their wireline subscriber bases. This is more bad news for BSNL, which has also found its mobile subscriber base coming under pressure. (See BSNL Struggles for Subs in May.)

For more on India's telecom's circles and rural services, see "A Guide to India's Telecom Market."

— Catherine Haslam, Asia Editor, Light Reading