The Hindu Business Line : Telecom subscriber base up 31.42 pc in 2004

AROUND 19.5 million users signed up for mobile telephony services in 2004, with the cellular user base registering a 68 per cent growth to touch the 48-million mark by the end of last year, according to a data released by the telecom regulator TRAI.

The year was a milestone for the telecom sector as the number of cellular users overtook the fixed line subscribers.

Fixed line operators added 2.67 million subscribers in 2004 to touch 44 million at the end of 2004.

The total telecom subscriber base, consisting of fixed as well as mobile users, registered a growth of 31.42 per cent to touch 92.76 million at the end of 2004. The gross telecom user base stood at 70.58 million at the end of 2003.

The year ended up with the tele-density reaching an all-time high of 8.62, as compared to 6.65 at the end of 2003, an increase of over 30 per cent, the data said.

In the mobile segment, additions consisted of 1.42 million GSM subscribers and 0.53 million CDMA subscribers. The total of 19.51 million mobile users in 2004 marks an increase of 11.5 per cent over the 17.49 million additions made in 2003.

Even in fixed line, 2.67 million subscribers were added as compared to 2.15 million new users during 2003, registering an increase of 24 per cent.

The telecom regulator said the growth in mobile subscriber has again picked up in December 2004 after remaining at around 1.5 million per month for previous two months.

TRAI also said the gross revenue of all the telecom operators other than ISPs (Internet service providers) have crossed Rs 61,000 crore for 2003-04 as compared to Rs 47,000 crore for 2002-03, registering a growth of about 30 per cent.

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