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During April – September of the current year, 103 lakh telephones have been added. Of these, in the month of September alone, more than 20 lakh phones were provided. With this addition, the total number of phones has reached a level of 868 lakh, taking the tele-density from 7% in March 2004 to 8.03% at the end of September 2004.
The Mix of Mobile and Fixed Phones
More than 90% of the additional phones during the current year are accounted for by the mobile phones. The number of mobile phones (including WLL(M)) as on September 30, 2004 is over 429 lakh. The share of mobile phones in the total number of telephones is shown below.
Private Sector has played a major role by accounting for over 75% of the expansion during these six months. The private sector has so far provided 380.5 lakh phones as on September 30, 2004, which is 43.8% of the total phones in the country.
Rural Telephony – BSNL is the contributor
However, in the rural areas, only Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has provided additional Direct Exchange Lines and VPTs. As against 2.5 lakh additional telephones provided in rural areas during April – August 2003, BSNL has provided 3.8 lakh telephones during the current year. Further, 1922 VPTs have also been provided during this period. Under the mobile Gramin Sanchar Sewak Scheme, a total of 10889 villages have been covered till September 2004.
Since the Government is committed to the Universal Service Obligation for the provision of rural telephony in adequate measure, additional funds have been sought for from the Ministry of Finance to compensate the operators, BSNL in particular, for providing telecom service in rural areas.
Performance of telecom sector during March’03- September’04
S.
No.
Description
Position at the End of
Abs.
Change (4-3)
Position at the End of
Abs.
Change (7-6)
March'03
Sept’03
March'04
Sept’04
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
No.of Telephones (Fixed + WLL(F)) (In Lakh)
Public
405.26
402.36
-2.9
404.93
402.73
-2.2
Private
11.00
14.99
3.99
23.57
35.96
12.39
Total
416.26
417.35
1.09
428.50
438.69
10.19
2
Mobile Subscribers (CMP + WLL(M)) (In Lakh)
Public
26.45
45.26
18.81
59.90
85.33
25.43
Private
103.46
186.12
82.66
277.00
344.54
67.54
Total
129.91
231.38
101.47
336.90
429.87
92.97
3
Total Telephones (Fixed + Mobile)
546.17
648.73
102.56
765.40
868.56
103.16
4
Teledensity (Based On Projected Population of Mar.'02, 03 & 04 )
5.13
6.10
-
7.08
8.03
-
5
Switching Capacity [PSUs]
[Fixed+WLL+CMPs](In Lakh)
545.64
574.94
29.30
600.25
632.95
32.70
6
VPTs [PSUs+Private]
Public
504114
505022
908
508803
510725
1922
Private
9342
12613
3271
12665
12665
0
Total
513456
517635
4179
521468
523390
1922
7
PCOs [PSUs] (In Lakh) *
14.00
15.33
1.33
17.59
19.19
1.60
8
OFC Route Kms (PSUs)
402083
412485
10402
445822
450543
4721
9
TAX Lines (PSUs)(In Lakh)
44.38
47.37
2.99
53.42
54.36
0.94
10
Rural DELs (PSUs)*
11406935
11662402
255467
12272117
12649463
377436
11
Fault Rate (only for BSNL for August 2004)*
10.47
10.46
-
9.43
8.3
-
* Data in Column 4 and Column 7 has been given for August'03 and August'04 respectively.
Important Decisions
The following decisions were taken during the month of September 2004:
ISP Licences were issued to M/s Landsat Infoway (Pvt.) Ltd. and M/s Wireline Solution India Pvt. Ltd. for Digboi and Tiruchirappalli service areas respectively.
M/s Sify Limited was registered during the month under the Infrastructure Provider Category-I.
M/s Reliance Infocomm Limited and M/s Bharti Televenture Limited have signed UASL for J&K and Assam circles respectively.
M/s Doorsabha Nigam Ltd. was issued licence for Voice Mail Service/ Audiotex services for Tamilnadu Circle.
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