Number of telephones cross 1200 million mark: DoT

The number of telephones in the country at the end of April 2021 crossed the mark of 1200 million on the back of an increase in wireless phones. The number of total phones increased from 1187.73 million in February 2021 to 1200.8 million in March 2021 and subsequently to 1203.35 million in April 2021.

As of April 2021, the wireless phones count stood at 1182.99 million while wireline made up the rest of 20.36 million. Urban areas accounted for 664.4 million phones while rural areas accounted for 538.95 million phones. The public sector accounted for 129.93 million phones while the private sector accounted for the rest of 1073.42 million phones.

“At the end of April’21, the total number of telephones was 1203.35 million, compared to 1200.88 million by the end of March’21, showing an increase of 2.47 million. The maximum rise in total telephone connections was recorded in Uttar Pradesh – [East] (601417) followed by Tamil Nadu (440966) and West Bengal (439329). However, Mumbai, Karnataka and Rajasthan recorded a fall in telephone connections over the previous month, with a decrease of 519898, 222276 & 193012 respectively.”

DoT

The overall teledensity stood at 88.26% with wireless teledensity at 86.77% and wireline teledensity at 1.49%. The rural teledensity stood at 60.37% while the urban teledensity stood at 141.37%. The public teledensity stood at 9.53% while the private teledensity stood at 78.73%.

Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka were among the top five circles in terms of teledensity with 151.98, 130.56, 125.67, 108.76, and 105.46 percentage teledensity respectively.

“Service area-wise analysis reveals that Uttar Pradesh – [East] had the highest share in the total telephones (8.46%) followed by Maharashtra (7.98%), Andhra Pradesh (7.48%), Bihar (7.21%) and Tamil Nadu (7.05%). These five Service areas taken together accounted for 38.18% of total telephone connections in India,” added DoT in its report.