The telecom subscriber base in Jammu and Kashmir has stepped up to 83,99,153, a report released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has revealed.
The report, first after the September floods, has shown the subscriber base has registered modest growth during the period ending September 2014. According to the report, the telecom subscriber base in the state was 83,50,027 at the end of August 2014 and it increased to 83,99,153 at the end of September 2014, thus registering an increase of 49,126 subscribers.
The data also reveals that barring Airtel and Idea, all other cellular companies have registered increase in subscribers. “During the period ending September 2014, Airtel’s customer-base came down from 28,16,533 to 28,00,232 registering a decrease of 16301 subscribers,” reveals the report. Similarly Idea lost 2712 subscribers and its total subscriber base at the end of the reported period remained 4,23,722 subscribers.
Pertinently, Airtel, the largest private cellular service provider in the state had come in for severe criticism for its inability to quickly restore its network after the floods. According to experts the negative growth of Airtel may have continued in October too and the real picture would be revealed once the next round of figures are released.
The companies that have reaped the windfall include Aircel whose subscriber base during the period increased from 22,46,674 to 22,84,190. Aircel was one of the few companies whose network was restored immediately after the deluge. Reliance, Vodafone and BSNL too registered the growth during this period.
In wireline sector the state continued to witness downslide in tune with national average. The segment wholly controlled by BSNL saw the subscriber base decreasing from 1,61,478 to 1,60,363 by September end.
In Mobile Number Portability (MNP), even as subscribers all over India continue to change their networks in droves, the people in J&K are least interested. The state witnessed the lowest 28,690 MNP requests as against the 3.26 million requests from subscribers in other states.
Notably, the tele-density in J&K continues to lag in comparison with national average. At all India level the tele-density stands at 76.75 whereas in J&K it is 69.98 percent.
Source: http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2014/Nov/28/telecom-subscriber-base-reaches-84-lakh-in-jk-39.asp
