The number of telephones in the country decreased by 8.57 million in April 2020 compared to March 2020 seemingly impacted by COVID-19. The sharp decrease took the number of telephones to a 4 month low at 1168.22 million compared to 1171.43 million telephones at the end of 2019, according to the monthly telecom scenario report from DoT.
The main decrease in number of telephones was in the wireless segment which saw 8.23 million connections decrease, whereas the wireline segment saw 0.35 million connections decrease. Rural areas saw an increase of over 0.74 million telephones while urban areas witnessed a drop in telephone connections by 9.31 million.
The public telephones decreased by 0.25 million while private telephones decreased by 8.32 million.
The overall teledensity came down to 86.57%, from 88.66% in March 2020 with the main reduction in wireless, private, and urban density. Himachal Pradesh remained the top circle in terms of teledensity while Delhi led among the metros. The maximum rise in telephones came from Uttar Pradesh (East) followed by West Bengal while Maharashtra, Bihar, and Gujarat recorded a fall in telephone connections over the previous month.
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