The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 943.49 million at the end of February, from 936.12 million at the end of January, thereby registering a growth rate of 0.79 percent, according to the Telecom Regularity Authority of India (Trai)'s latest report. With this, the overall teledensity in India reached 78.10 at the end of February, from 77.57 in the previous month. Subscription in urban areas grew from 615.83 million in January to 618.82 million at the end of February. Subscription in rural areas increased from 320.29 million to 324.68 million during the same period. The overall urban teledensity has increased from 168.84 to 169.37 and rural teledensity increased from 38.04 to 38.53. Total mobile subscriber base increased from 903.73 million in January to 911.17 million at the end of February, registering a growth of 0.82 percent. Private operators hold 88.64 percent of the mobile market share where as BSNL and MTNL, two PSU operators hold only 11.36 percent market share. Fixed-line subscriber base declined from 32.39 million at the end of January to 32.33 million at the end of February. BSNL and MTNL, two PSU operators hold 80.76 percent of the fixed-line market share. Total broadband subscriber base has increased from 13.42 million at the end of January to 13.54 million at the end of February, there by showing a monthly growth of 0.87 percent.
