Telecompaper

India ended September with 509.03 million telephone subscribers, up 3.03 percent from 494.07 million in August, according to data from Indian regulator Trai. Teledensity reached 43.5 percent. The wireless and mobile (GSM, CDMA, fixed wireless phone) subscriber base stood at 471.73 million, growing by 3.28 percent from the previous month. Indian operator Bharti Airtel remained market leader with 110.5 million customers, followed by Reliance with 86.11 million subscribers, Vodafone Essar with 82.84 million subscribers, BSNL with 58.75 million and Idea with 51.45 million subscribers. Tata Teleservices ended September with 46.79 million subscribers, while MTNL saw its subscriber base reach 4.68 million. The fixed subscriber base declined to 37.31 million versus 37.33 million in August. Furthermore, the total broadband subscriber base rose 3.29 percent to 7.22 million from 6.98 million a month earlier.