Telecom subscriber base falls to 116.3 crore in May: TRAI

New Delhi: India’s Telecom subscriber base dipped to around 116.36 crore in May but service providers were able to narrow the loss of subscriber base to 57.6 lakh as compared to the previous month, according to data released by the sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The telecom subscriber base had declined 85.3 lakh in April, when the country was under complete lockdown, to 116.94 crore.

"The number of telephone subscribers in India decreased from 1,169.44 million at the end of April 2020 to 1,163.67 million at the end of May 2020, thereby showing a monthly decline rate of 0.49 per cent," the TRAI said.

Urban centres recorded a decline of 92.3 lakh mobile subscribers, while the customer base in rural areas increased 36.2 lakh, according to the report. The overall mobile subscriber base dipped to 114.39 crore during the reported month. The landline user base in the country declined 1.5 lakh to 1.97 crore at the end of May.

The urban teledensity reached 137.81 per cent, while rural teledensity stood at 59.23 per cent in May. Despite dip in overall subscriber, broadband customer base in the country grew 1.13 per cent to 68.3 crore in May from 67.6 crore in April.

Wireless broadband connections dominated the segment with 66.37 crore connections, while wired connections accounted for 1.93 crore customers. Out of the total 344 broadband service providers, top-five operators accounted for 98.93 market share, TRAI said.