The rural teledensity remains abysmally low at 4-6 per cent though the telephone subscriber base, including mobile and landline, has swelled to 206 million in 2006-07, with the number of telephones increasing in urban areas by 50 per cent.
The mobile subscribers grew by about 73 per cent to reach 157 million in 2006-07, however, fixed line subscribers have declined 3.3 per cent, taking the total below 48.91 million in this period, according to the annual survey by Voice and Data magazine.
"With the increase in connectivity, one in five Indians has access to a phone. Despite this impressive growth, the rural teledensity is only 4-6 per cent compared to urban teledensity at 50 per cent," the survey said.
Despite a fall in the fixed line subscribers and a marginal decrease in revenue, state-owned telecom major BSNL stood at the top with revenues at Rs 40,135 crore, followed by Bharti Airtel at Rs 17,888 crore.
Reliance Communications and Hutch-Essar were at third and fourth slot with revenues of Rs 14,684 crore and Rs 10,565 crore respectively.
MTNL slipped two positions to number 7 with a decline of 11.5 per cent to Rs 4,923 crore in 2006-07. Tata Tele Services climbed up to sixth position from eighth last year.
Bharti garnered 24 per cent market share with over 37 million subscribers, followed by BSNL with 18 per cent market share and 27.9 million subscribers.
Reliance Communications also has 27.9 million subscribers with 18 per cent market share.
Source: http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2182871.cms
The mobile subscribers grew by about 73 per cent to reach 157 million in 2006-07, however, fixed line subscribers have declined 3.3 per cent, taking the total below 48.91 million in this period, according to the annual survey by Voice and Data magazine.
"With the increase in connectivity, one in five Indians has access to a phone. Despite this impressive growth, the rural teledensity is only 4-6 per cent compared to urban teledensity at 50 per cent," the survey said.
Despite a fall in the fixed line subscribers and a marginal decrease in revenue, state-owned telecom major BSNL stood at the top with revenues at Rs 40,135 crore, followed by Bharti Airtel at Rs 17,888 crore.
Reliance Communications and Hutch-Essar were at third and fourth slot with revenues of Rs 14,684 crore and Rs 10,565 crore respectively.
MTNL slipped two positions to number 7 with a decline of 11.5 per cent to Rs 4,923 crore in 2006-07. Tata Tele Services climbed up to sixth position from eighth last year.
Bharti garnered 24 per cent market share with over 37 million subscribers, followed by BSNL with 18 per cent market share and 27.9 million subscribers.
Reliance Communications also has 27.9 million subscribers with 18 per cent market share.
Source: http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2182871.cms