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