• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), a statutory authority under Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, has released the "Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report" for the Quarter ending 30th September, 2020.

    • This Report provides a broad perspective of the Telecom Services in India and presents the key parameters and growth trends of the Telecom Services as well as Cable TV, DTH & Radio Broadcasting services in India for the period covering 1st July, 2020 to 30 th September, 2020 compiled mainly on the basis of information furnished by the Service Providers.

Highlights

    • The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,160.52 million at the end of Jun-20 to 1,168.66 million at the end of Sep-20, registering a growth rate of 0.70% over the previous quarter.

    • This reflects Year-On-Year (Y-O-Y) decline rate of 2.22% over the same quarter of the last year.

    • Telephone subscribers in Urban areas increased from 636.83 million at the end of Jun-20 to 644.26 million at the end of Sep-20.

    • Rural telephone subscribers increased from 523.69 million at the end of Jun-20 to 524.39 million at the end of Sep-20.

    • With a net increase of 7.88 million subscribers during the quarter, the total wireless subscriber base increased from 1, 140.71 million at the end of Jun-20 to 1, 148.58 million at the end of Sep-20, registering a growth rate of 0.69% over the previous quarter.

    • Total number of Internet subscribers increased from 749.07 million at the end of Jun-20 to 776.45 million at the end of Sep-20, registering a quarterly growth rate of 3.66%. 

    • The Internet subscriber base is comprised of Broadband Internet subscriber base of 726.32 million and Narrowband Internet subscriber base of 50.14 million.

    • Gross Revenue (GR) and Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of Telecom Service Sector for the Q.E. Sep-20 has been 8,228 Crore and 5,707 Crore respectively. 

    • A total number of 911 private satellite TV channels have been permitted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) for uplinking only/ downlinking only/ both uplinking and downlinking, as on 30th sep, 2020.

    • Since its introduction in the year 2003, DTH (direct-to-home) service has displayed phenomenal growth. Pay DTH has attained total active subscriber base of around 70.70 million in QE 30th September 2020. This is in addition the subscribers of DTH Free Dish (free DTH services of Doordarshan).

    • Apart from the radio stations operated by All India Radio — the public broadcaster, as on 30th September 2020, there are 367 operational private FM Radio stations in 105 cities with operational 31 Private FM Radio broadcasters same as previous quarter.

    • The reported advertisement revenue during the quarter ending 30th September 2020 in respect of 366 private FM Radio stations is {198.53 crore as against 08.41 crore in respect of 366 private FM Radio stations for the previous quarter.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)