Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report for quarter ending Sept. 2009

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The TRAI has released the “Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report” for the Quarter ending September 2009. This Report provides a broad perspective of the Telecom Services and presents the key parameters and growth trends for the Telecom Services in India for the period covering July-September 2009, and is compiled on the basis of information furnished by the Service Providers.

Subscriber base
The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 509.03 million at the end of Sep-09 from 464.82 million in Jun-09, thereby registering a growth rate of 9.51 percent. With this, the overall teledensity in India reached 43.50 as on 30 September 2009.

Trends in telephone subscribers and teledensity in India
Subscription in urban areas increased to 357.22 Million and rural subscription increased to 151.81 million. Rural teledensity reached 18.46 and urban teledensity reached 102.79 at the end of Sep-09. The share of rural subscribers increased to 29.8 percent in total subscription.

Composition of telephone subscribers
With 44.43 million net additions during the Quarter, total wireless (GSM + CDMA) subscriber base increased to 471.73 million at the end of Sep-09, and wireless teledensity reached 40. Wireless segment accounts for 92.7 percent of the total telephone subscription at the end of Sept-09.

Wireline subscriber base declined to 37.31 million at the end of Sep-09, bringing down the wireline teledensity to 3.19.

Internet subscribers increased to 14.63 million at the end of September 2009 registering a quarterly growth rate of 4.09 percent.

Share of broadband subscription in total Internet subscription increased from 47.1 percent in Jun-09 to 49.3 percent in Sep-09. 86.53 percent of broadband subscribers are using DSL technology.

Trends in Internet/broadband subscription -- Average revenue and usage trends
The ARPU for GSM-full mobility service declined by 11.3 percent, from Rs. 185 in QE Jun-09 to Rs. 164 in QE Sep-09.

ARPU for CDMA–full mobility service declined by 3.8 percent, from Rs. 92 in QE Jun-09 to Rs. 89 in QE Sep-09.

The ARPU for dialup Internet usage declined by 5.08 percent, from Rs. 243.50 in QE Jun-09 to Rs 231.13 in the quarter ending Sep-09.

The MOU per subscriber for GSM–full mobility service continued to show a declining trend. It declined by 6.68 percent, from 454 in QE Jun-09 to 423 in QE Sep-09. The outgoing MOUs declined by 6.8 percent and incoming by 6.5 percent.

The MOU per subscriber for CDMA-full mobility service declined by 9.8 percent from 342 (Q.E Jun-09) to 308 (Q.E Sep-09). The outgoing MOUs declined by 9.2 percent and incoming MOUs declined by 10.5 percent.

Financial data
Gross Revenue (GR) and Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of the telecom sector for the QE Sep-09 has been Rs 38,854.65 crore and Rs. 29,115.31 crore, respectively. There has been a reduction of 0.65 percent and 2.08 percent, as compared to previous quarter, in GR and AGR, respectively.

Average licence fee as percentage of AGR is 8.41 percent in Sep-09 as against 8.43 percent in the previous quarter.

Quality of Service (QoS) performance
The performance of wireline service providers improved as compared to the previous quarter, in respect of Time taken for refund of deposits after closures.

The wireline service performance has deteriorated in this quarter, as compared to the previous quarter, in respect of Call Completion Rate (in local network), percent faults repaired by next working day, Mean Time to Restore (MTTR) and Metering and billing credibility – postpaid.

The performance of the wireless service providers improved in this quarter in respect of SDCCH/ Paging Chl. Congestion, TCH Congestion and Worst affected cells having more than 3 percent TCH drop (call drop) rate.

The performance of the wireless service providers has deteriorated in this quarter as compared to the previous quarter in respect of Call Set-up Success Rate (within licensee's own network), Connection with good voice quality, Metering and billing credibility -- post paid and Resolution of billing/charging/validity complaints.

Cable TV, DTH and Radio Broadcast services
The total Number of channels registered with Ministry of I&B increased to 472 from 447 in June-09. There are 138 pay TV channels in existence as reported by 23 broadcasters/their distributors at the Quarter ending Sept-09.

Maximum number of TV channels being carried by any of the reported MSOs is 254 whereas in conventional analogue form, the maximum number of channels being carried by the reported MSOs is 100 channels.

The number of private FM Radio stations in operation is 248 at the end of Sept-09.

Besides free DTH service of Doordarshan, there are six private DTH licensees. All the six DTH licensees are offering pay DTH services to the customers as on 30.09.2009 and their reported subscriber base is 17.34 million.

Number of STBs installed in CAS notified areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai decreased from 8,16,192 in June-09 to 7,34,016 in Sept-09.