Number of Mobile Connections in India as on Feb-2013

Number of Mobile Connections in India as on Feb-2013

 

It is really interesting to know that one of the fastest growing sector in India, mobile phone users are significantly increasing day by day in across the county, according to the report of TRAI, more than eighty crore wireless telecom subscribers in the country as on 28.02.2013. Uttar Pradesh is the first and largest number of mobile users in the country and second is Tamilnadu.

Mobile Connection in the Country

 

As per Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), there are 861,660,097 wireless telecom subscribers in the country as on 28.02.2013. The details of service area-wise wireless subscribers are given below.

Service Area-wise total Number of Wireless Subscribers as on February 2013…

 

Sl.No	Service Area	Wireless Subscribers
1	Andhra Pradesh	6,41,19,392
2	Assam	1,42,90,054
3	Bihar	6,07,29,012
4	Delhi	4,02,84,855
5	Gujarat	5,12,28,805
6	Haryana	1,95,29,358
7	Himachal Pradesh	68,90,093
8	Jammu & Kashmir	67,50,645
9	Karnataka	5,24,48,004
10	Kerala	3,06,98,349
11	Kolkata	2,12,01,161
12	Madhya Pradesh	5,14,27,067
13	Maharashtra	6,77,29,933
14	Mumbai	2,98,99,619
15	North East	88,29,898
16	Odisha	2,43,08,041
17	Punjab	2,92,78,748
18	Rajasthan	4,78,28,422
19	Tamilnadu including Chennai	7,18,11,035
20	Uttar Pradesh (East)	7,31,22,951
21	Uttar Pradesh (West)	4,84,81,217
22	West Bengal	4,07,73,438
	Total	86,16,60,097

Details of wireless subscribers of BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) and MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited) as on 28.02.2013 are as follows:

Service Provider	No of Subscribers	%age of total wireless connections
BSNL	100670567	11.68
MTNL	5086184	0.59

 

As per information provided by BSNL and MTNL, complaints from customers are received from time to time regarding Quality of Service (QoS) including mobile signals in their service areas. QoS is monitored on a regular basis by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). TRAI has indicated, from time to time, some deficiencies on specified parameters of service in specific service areas.  Improvements in service delivery is a continuous process.

 

Measures taken by BSNL and MTNL to improve its Quality of Service including the mobile services, are as follows:

• Additions, capacity augmentation and upgradation of Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs).
• Optimization of radio network and drive tests.
• Close monitoring of network operation through IT (Information Technology) enabled systems.
• Introduction of effective Network Management System.

This information was given by Shri Milind Deora, Minister of State for C&IT in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

Guidelines for New Mobile Connections

Guidelines for New Mobile Connections

Department of Telecom (DoT) has issued revised instructions to Cellular Mobile Telephone Service and Unified Access Services Licensees vide letter dated 09.08.2012 on verification of Mobile Subscribers after review of existing instructions. New instructions are aimed at improving customer verification compliance. These instructions inter-alia prescribe the following:

(i) A passport size photograph should be pasted on the Customer Acquisition Form (CAF) and the documents as proof of identity and proof of address of the subscriber should be attached with the CAF.

(ii) The person at the Point of Sale has to get the CAF duly filled and signed (in case of illiterate person thumb impression) by the subscriber with date. The authorized person at PoS has to record in the CAF that he has seen the subscriber and matched the photograph attached on the CAF with the subscriber and verified his copies of documents of proof of address and proof of identity attached with the CAF with the original and has to put his signature on the CAF & all attached documents.

(iii) The mobile connection is to be activated only after the requirement of filling up CAF and copies of documentary proof as per requirement have been fulfilled by the customer and the subscriber details have been updated in the subscriber database of the Licensee and the employee of licensee has verified the same.

(iv) After activation of SIM also the subscriber is to be tele-verified by the Licensee.

As far as retailers are concerned, they are contractors of the licensees and these instructions are not addressed to the retailers.

The detailed instructions dated 09.08.2012 are available at DoT website at http://www.dot.gov.in/as/2012/DOC181012.pdf

In these instructions, apart from the penalties prescribed in other instructions issued form time to time, the following additional provisions of penalty have inter-alia been made in these instructions:

(i) In case, the Licensee fails to intimate about the disconnection to TERM Cell within 7 days of disconnection, a penalty of Rs. 3000/- per connection per week or part thereof shall be levied.

(ii) If it is detected that the number was not actually disconnected on or before the date of confirmation/disconnection, then a penalty @ Rs. 1000 per day from the date of intimation to the Licensee to the date of actual disconnection shall be levied in addition to the penalty for non-disconnection.

The following provisions have inter-alia been re-iterated in these instructions regarding point of sale/ franchisees in case of forged document cases:

(i) Police complaint/ FIR shall be lodged by the Point of Sale (PoS)/Franchisee against the subscriber in case forged documents are submitted by the subscriber and originals are also forged.

(ii) Licensee shall lodge FIR/ Complaint against the subscriber and Franchisee/PoS in case of failure of PoS/Franchisee in lodging complaint/FIR against subscriber.

(iii) The Licensee shall lodge the compliant / FIR against the Franchisee/ point of sale and financial penalty shall also be imposed in case forgery has been done by point of sale/ franchisee.

(iv) In case action as above is not taken by the Licensee or Licensee itself is involved in forgery, Telecom Enforcement Resource & Monitoring (TERM) Cell of DoT shall lodge Complaint/ FIR against Licensee. Penalty shall also be imposed on all such forged cases.

(v) Where it is found that the act of issuing connections was done by PoS using the document of some other subscriber or any person, or the documents were forged by the franchisee/PoS, the concerned PoS/franchisee may be terminated by the Licensee in addition to lodging of complaint / FIR against it. Other Licensees shall also terminate/ not appoint any such PoS.

In the new instructions, some additional safeguards have been made in the interest of national security. There does not seem any provision leading to undue hardship to consumers.

This information was given by Shri Milind Deora, Minister of State for C&IT in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

PIB