Telephone subscribers grew 0.41% in February: TRAI

New Delhi, April 24 (IANS) The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,175.01 million at the end of January 2018 to 1,179.83 million at the end of February 2018, a monthly growth rate of 0.41 per cent, official data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said here on Tuesday.

The urban subscription declined from 672.54 million at the end of January 2018 to 669.63 million at the end of February 2018, however the rural subscription increased from 502.47 million to 510.20 million during the same period.

The overall tele-density in India increased from 90.61 at the end of January 2018 to 90.89 at the end of February 2018. 

The TRAI data showed total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA and LTE) increased from 1,151.94 million at the end of January 2018 to 1,156.87 million at the end of February 2018, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.43 per cent.

However, wireline subscribers further declined from 23.07 million at the end of January 2018 to 22.97 million at the end of February 2018. Net decline in the wireline subscriber base was 0.10 million with a monthly decline rate of 0.45 per cent. 

During February 2018, a total of 6.57 million requests were received for mobile number portability (MNP). With this, the cumulative MNP requests increased from 344.59 million at the end of January 2018 to 351.16 million at the end of February 2018, since the implementation of MNP.