How much time do you spend talking on phone? -Governance Now

How much time do you spend talking on phone?

It’s close to 12 hours a month, according to a TRAI report

GN Bureau | January 22, 2021

#Telecom #telephony #TRAI #technology #internet #economy #media

(GN Photo, for representation only)

How much time do Indians spend talking on phone? It is on average 761 minutes per month, according to a new report from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The telecom regulator released its report, titled ‘The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators: July-September, 2020’, on Thursday. This report provides a broad perspective of the telecom services in India and presents the key parameters and growth trends of the telecom services as well as cable TV, DTH and radio broadcasting services in India for the period between July 1 to September 30 last year, compiled mainly on the basis of information furnished by the service providers.

The ubiquitous mobile phone is now much more than a device to make and receive calls, but as far its basic function is concerned, the report notes, “On all India average, the overall Minutes of Usage (MOU) per subscriber per month for wireless service increased by 2.37% from 744 in QE Jun-20 to 761 in QE Sep-20.”
‘MOU per subscriber per month’ is calculated by dividing total minutes of usage (incoming and outgoing) by average number of subscribers.

Among other highlights of the report from its executive summary:

* The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,160.52 million at the end of Jun 20 to 1,168.66 million at the end of Sep-20, registering a growth of 0.70% over the previous quarter. This reflects Year-On-Year (Y-O-Y) decline rate of 2.22% over the same quarter of the last year. The overall tele-density in India also increased from 85.85% as in QE Jun-20 to 86.22% as in QE Sep-20.

* Telephone subscribers in urban areas increased from 636.83 million at the end of Jun-20 to 644.26 million at the end of Sep-20 and urban tele-density also increased from 137.35% to 138.25% during the same period.

* Rural telephone subscribers increased from 523.69 million at the end of Jun-20 to 524.39 million at the end of Sep-20 however, rural teledensity remained same, i.e., 58.96%, as it was during last quarter June, 2020.

* Out of the total subscription, the share of rural subscription decreased from 45.13% at the end of Jun-20 to 44.87% at the end of Sep-20. With a net increase of 7.88 million subscribers during the quarter, the total wireless subscriber base increased from 1,140.71 million at the end of Jun-20 to 1, 148.58 million at the end of Sep-20, registering a growth rate of 0.69% over the previous quarter. However, wireless subscriptions declined on Y-O-Y basis at the rate of 2.14% during the year.

* Wireless Tele-density increased from 84.38% at the end of Jun-20 to 84.74% at the end of Sep-20 with quarterly growth rate of 0.43%. Wireline subscribers increased from 19.81 million at the end of Jun-20 to 20.08 million at the end of Sep-20 with a quarterly growth rate of 1.34%, however, on Y-O-Y basis, wireline subscriptions declined by6.58% at the end of QE Sep-20. Wireline Tele-density increased from 1.47% at the end of Jun-20 to 1.48% at the end of Sep-20.

* Total number of Internet subscribers increased from 749.07 million at the end of Jun-20 to 776.45 million at the end of Sep-20, registering a growth of 3.66%. Out of the internet subscribers, the number of Wired Internet subscribers are 24.36 million and the number of Wireless Internet subscribers are 752.09 million.

* Monthly Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for wireless service increased by 7.49%, from 00.12 in QE Jun-20 to 06.87 in QE Sep20. On Y-O-Y basis, monthly ARPU for wireless service increased by30.24% in this quarter.

* A total of 911 private satellite TV channels have been permitted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) for uplinking only/ downlinking only/ both uplinking and downlinking, as on 30th Sep, 2020.

* As per the reporting done by broadcasters in pursuance of the Tariff Order (Broadcasting & Cable), dated 3rd March 2017, as amended, there are 327 pay channels as on 30th September 2020, which include 231 SD (standard definition) pay TV channels and 96 HD (high definition) Pay TV channels.

* Since its introduction in the year 2003, DTH (direct-to-home) service has displayed phenomenal growth. During QE 30th September 2020, there were 4 pay DTH service providers in the country. Pay DTH has attained total active subscriber base of around 70.70 million in QE 30th September 2020. This is in addition the subscribers of DTH Free Dish (free DTH services of Doordarshan).

* Apart from the radio stations operated by All India Radio, the public broadcaster, as on 30th September 2020, there are 367 operational private FM Radio stations in 105 cities with operational 31 Private FM Radio broadcasters same as previous quarter.

The full summary is available here: https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/userfiles/Press%20Release%20English%202021.pdf

Comments

Other News

Climate actions being implemented to deal with impact of heat waves

India’s climate actions cut across various sectors and are being implemented through various programs and schemes of different union ministries, departments and state/ union territory governments. The government of India through concerned ministries and departments organises workshops, exhibiti

Banks must hear borrowers before declaring their accounts as frauds: SC

In a judgment with far-reaching implications, the Supreme Court has held that the civil consequences of an account being declared as fraud under the Reserve Bank of India (Frauds Classification and Reporting by Commercial Banks and Select FIs) Directions, 2016 or its Master Directions on Fraud amount to ci

India’s forest cover increases by 5,516 sq km in four years

The Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, carries out the assessment of forest cover biennially since 1987 and the findings are published in the India State of Forest Report (ISFR). As per the latest ISFR 2021, there is a

Steps taken to meet higher power demand of April-May

While the average growth of energy requirement in the country for 2023-24 viz-a-viz 2022-23 has been estimated as 4.9%, the months of April and May have been projected as high demand period. During the current year, the peak demand is expected to be around 229 GW during the summer period. The government ha

Millets to make comeback in army ration after half a century

As the UN has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets, the Indian Army has steered introduction of millets flour in the rations of soldiers. This landmark decision will ensure troops are supplied with native and traditional grains after over half a century, when these were discontinued in favour

Central Bank Digital Currency has game-changing potential

When discussing digital currency, you might think of one or two well-known varieties. There is the digital representation of currency that you access with mobile and online banking services. This currency is the liability of a commercial bank. There is also cryptocurrency, a digital medium of exchange issu