Dec quarter: Total telecom subscriber base falls again

The total number of telecom subscribers, comprising both wireless and wireline users, in the country fell for the second quarter in a row in the October-December 2021 period, data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) showed.

During this quarter, the total number of telecom users in India stood at 1.17 billion, down 0.9 per cent from the previous quarter. Of the total user base, the number of wireless subscribers stood at 1.15 billion, which was nearly 1 per cent down on quarter, while the number of wireline subscribers grew nearly 3 per cent to 23.8 million, Trai data showed.

The July-September 2021 quarter too had registered a 1.1 per cent fall in total telecom user base, with a similar trend of fall in wireless subscribers but a rise in wireline subscribers. In this period, total wireless subscribers in stood at 1.16 billion, down 1.2 per cent over the previous quarter, while wireline subscribers had risen 6.4 per cent to 23.1 million.