July 2009: 14.38M Mobile Connections Added In India; Landlines Sink; Broadband At 6.8M

From http://www.medianama.com/2009/08/223-july-2009-1438m-mobile-connections-added-in-india-landlines-sink-broadband-at-68m/ on August 24, 2009

By Preethi J

News of the reviving economy is reflected in the telecom sector in the month of July, which saw an addition of 14.38 million wireless connections compared to the 12.03 million in June, 2009. The total number of telephone connections in the country was 479.07 million at the end of July 2009.

• Teledensity rose from 39.86% in June to 41.08%.
• Wireless teledensity is up from 36.64% to 37.87%
• Total wireless connections rose 3.6% to 441.66 million
• Broadband connections swelled from 6.62 million in June 2009 to 6.8 million.

BSNL Loses 0.16M Landline Users; Bharti Adds 33,940

This segment continues to see churn with BSNL’s customers choosing the wireless route and disconnecting their landlines – the two oldest landline providers BSNL and MTNL lost a total of 0.17 million subscribers in July after losing 0.19 million in June 2009. MTNL lost 8181 to reach 3.54 million connections. BSNL lost 166,519 landline connections and now has 28.62 million; it accounts for 76.5% of the country’s landline userbase and will continue to be hit by negative growth even as private service providers such as Bharti Airtel and RCOM add users by bundling the landlines with other necessary services such as broadband and IPTV.

• Total landline connections in India – 37.41 million
• Wireline teledensity has reduced marginally to 3.21%

Downloads: TRAI Data (PDF)

Other operators offering landlines and their user base:

• Bharti Airtel – 2.86 million
• Reliance Communications – 1.13 million
• Tata Teleservices (Indicom) – 967,554
• HFCL Infotel – 163,399
• Sistema Shyam (MTS) – 111,069

Mumbai and Maharashtra ring in TATA DOCOMO

(From Tata DOCOMO Press release at http://www.tataindicom.com/pressroom/PR_Docs/Press-Release-August-06-2009-Pushpendra-06-08-2009.pdf)

Mumbai, 06th August, 2009: Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML) today announced the launch of TATA DOCOMO, their GSM brand, in Mumbai and across Maharashtra. The Company’s GSM services were launched by Hon. Shri. Gurudas Kamat, Minister of State for Information Technology and Communications, Government of India, and Member of Parliament from Mumbai,  who made the first phone call to Mr. Kishor A Chaukar, Chairman, TTML, from TATA DOCOMO’s NGN.

Hon. Shri. Gurudas Kamat acknowledged the iconic moment as another first in the Tata group of companies’ long repertoire of creating new opportunities for growth and expansion in India and spreading its footprint globally through excellence and innovation. He applauded the over Rs. 1000 crores investment made by TTML in its 3G-ready GSM network, and the Company’s commitment to playing its role in the industrialisation and economic development of Maharashtra.

TATA DOCOMO released a range of products and innovative tariff options and introduced the ‘Pay-per-use’ advantage. The ‘Pay-per-use’ model represents a paradigm shift in the overall telecom experience. It allows the consumer to pay only for the seconds utilized, heralding another revolution in the mobile telecommunications industry in India. As an introductory offer, across Mumbai and Maharashtra, TATA DOCOMO offers Lifetime@1 paise/second for all calls across India. Consumers can also avail of ‘Pay-for-Three and get 100 SMS Free’ offer every day. For the first time, International Calling is also available on a persecond billing model. A variety of Postpaid plans designed for a range of consumer requirements are also available in the per-second billing model.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Mukund Govind Rajan, Managing Director, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited said, “The launch of TATA DOCOMO GSM Mobile Service is a momentous occasion for all of us. The partnership with NTT DOCOMO is seeing the traditional trust associated with the Tata brand coming together with the best of Japanese technology, to offer great value to consumers. This launch will further consolidate our position as one of the leading, fully- integrated, telecommunication services providers.” The first customers of TATA DOCOMO, who were handed over complimentary lifetime TATA DOCOMO connections at the launch event, were the Pune based Ms. Krushnaa Patil, the youngest girl from Maharashtra to scale Mount Everest, and Ms. Pooja Chopra, Femina Miss India World 2009, again from Pune.