India’s wired broadband connections are facing a free fall as the number of subscribers dropped 2.33 percent in the last 12 months, TRAI data shows.
Wired broadband connections in India fell to 21.16 million in the June quarter of 2018 as compared with 21.24 million in March quarter of 2018, 21.28 million in December quarter of 2017, 21.35 million in September quarter of 2017 and 21.67 million June quarter of 2017.
At the same time wireless broadband connections – mobile and dongles — in India rose 19.96 percent to 490.66 million in June 2018 from 409.01 million in June 2017. This is primarily due to hyper competitive market conditions.
Broadband Internet subscriber base increased 8.37 percent from 412.60 million in March quarter of 2018 to 447.12 million in June quarter of 2018. Narrowband Internet subscriber base declined 19.93 percent from 81.35 million in March quarter to 65.14 million in June quarter.
Rural India has 140.28 million broadband connections. Urban India has 306.85 million broadband connections. Andhra Pradesh state has 13.62 million broadband customers in rural areas. Delhi has 28.67 million broadband customers in urban areas.
BSNL is the dominant player in wired internet business with 58.33 percent market share with 12.34 million subscribers. Bharti Airtel has 2.21 million wired internet subscribers grabbing 10.42 percent share. Atria Convergence has 6.31 percent share. MTNL has 3.94 percent share. Hathway Cable has 3.58 percent share.
Reliance Jio holds 43.83 percent market share in India’s wireless broadband segment with 215.26 million subscribers. Bharti Airtel has 18.96 percent share with 93.11 million wireless broadband subscribers.
TRAI does not release revenue status of broadband operators. Indian telecom service providers’ Gross Revenue (GR) fell 10 percent to INR 58,401 crore in the June quarter of 2018.
Top telecom service areas in terms of internet subscriptions on wired and wireless platforms are Maharashtra with 41.81 million connections, Andhra Pradesh with 39.73 million, Tamil Nadu including Chennai with 37.76 million, UP East with 35.74 million and Karnataka with 33.33 million.
India has 12.17 million broadband connections on DSL, 3.46 million on Ethernet LAN, 3.19 million on dial-up, 1.41 million on cable modem, 0.81 million on fiber and 0.11 million on leased lines.
Baburajan K
