Bharti Airtel is the number one operator with maximum number of wireless enabled data subscribers as on 31-12-2010.
The top five operators in this category include Bharti Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices.
Aircel Cellular, which has done aggressive marketing with its Pocket Internet services, is yet to find a place in top 5, according to TRAI data.
The wireless enabled data subscribers of Bharti Airtel was 106.43 million, BSNL 67.02 million, Vodafone 59.89 million, Reliance Communications 27.7 million and Tata Teleservices 20.18 million as on 31-12-2010.
Thanks to the availability of smart phones and mobile Internet services, the mobile Internet users are growing exponentially.
The rise in mobile internet usage and the launch of 3G services, along with reduction in prices will lead to the popularity of smartphones, according to Smartphone Market in India 2011 report by Netscribes (India).
According to TRAI, 44.19 percent of total wireless subscribers base are capable of accessing data services / internet at the end of 31-12-2010 as against 39.85 percent at the end of previous quarter.
Wireless subscribers capable of accessing data services / internet grew to 332.43 million in December 2010 from 149.03 million in December 2009.
Internet is also growing. There are 18.69 million Internet subscribers at the end of December 2010 as compared to 17.90 million at the end of September 2010, registering a growth of 4.43 percent.
Number of broadband subscribers increased from 10.31 million at the end of September 2010 to 10.99 million at the end of December 2010, registering a quarterly growth of 6.64 percent and Y-O-Y growth of 40.48 percent. The growth in the number of broadband subscribers during the quarter and also on Y-O-Y basis is more or less similar to the growth in overall telephone subscriber base.
The public sector telecom major BSNL holds 56.96 percent of the market share with reported subscriber base of 10.64 million internet subscribers at the end of December 2010 as against 10.17 million at the end of September 2010. MTNL is at second position (2.39 million) followed by Reliance Communications (2.03 million).
By TelecomLead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com
