Mobile number portability (MNP) has been greatly received by the Indian mobile subscribers, suggest TRAI’s latest Telecom Subscription Data report. MNP service allow the subscribers a chance to opt out from their existing service provider onto a new service provider without changing their mobile number.
According TRAI report, by the end of April 2012 about 45.89 million subscribers have submitted their requests to different service providers for porting their mobile number. The number of MNP request rise from 41.88 million subscribers at the end of March 2012 to 45.89 million at the end of April 2012, that mans a total of 4.01 million MNP request were made within the one month time.
Mobile subscribers from Karnataka made the maximum MNP request (5.11 million) followed by Andhra Pradesh telecom Service area (4.44 million) and Gujarat telecom circle with 4.23 million.
The latest TRAI’s Telecom Subscription Data report also unveils the latest trends in the Indian telecom sector. The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 952.91 Million at the end of April, 2012 from 951.34 Million at the end of March 2012, an increase of 1.57 million users thereby registering a growth rate of 0.16%. The share of Urban subscribers has declined to 64.95% from 65.23% whereas share of Rural Subscribers has increased to 35.05% in the month of April 2012.
Looking into the Wireless segment, the total Wireless subscriber base in India increased from 919.17 Million in March 2012 to 921.02 Million at the end of April 2012, registering a growth of 0.20%. The share of Urban Subscriber has decreased from 64.83 % to 64.54% where as share of Rural Subscribers has increased from 35.17% to 35.46%. The overall wireless Tele density in India reaches 76.07.
Bharti Airtel still remains the top telecom operator in India with 19.90% market share, Reliance Communication taking the second spot with 16.67% share and Vodafone in the third place with 16.43% share. Also in the net addition of new users Bharti Airtel topped with 10.88% share and S Tel losing around -185.75%, probably due to the Supreme court decision on 2G Scam.
When looking into the Broadband segment, the total Broadband subscriber base has increased from 13.79 million at the end of March 2012 to 13.95 million at the end of April 2012, there by showing a monthly growth of 1.13%. Govt owned BSNL ISP topped the subscriber base with 64.6% share, which added 9.00 million broadband subscribers within one month, followed by Bharti Airtel ISP (9.8%) and MTNL ISP (7.5%).
Read the complete TRAI telecom report here.