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BSNL, MTNL achieve five-crore subscriber base

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI FEB. 19. Even as the surrender of fixed phones is gathering momentum, the two state-owned telephone companies, BSNL and MTNL, ironically achieved a landmark with their subscriber base crossing five crores as against the one crore enrolled with the cellular industry.

As against the 13-lakh BSNL phones surrendered in 2001-02, over 15-lakh were surrendered in the first 10 months of the current fiscal. Despite this, the subscriber base of the two companies grew because the spare lines are being given to other waitlisted applicants.

The Maharashtra telecom circle (including Goa and Mumbai) has the maximum number of subscribers in both rural and urban areas. Tamil Nadu has emerged second with the next highest availability of fixed phones. The other States in descending order are Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. They are followed by West Bengal, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Bihar.

The maximum number of rural users are in Kerala, followed by Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Phone usage in rural areas gives an insight into the purchasing power of the people.

Punjab has more rural phone subscribers than Uttar Pradesh, a much larger State. Tamil Nadu, which has seven crore more phones than Andhra Pradesh, is, however, ranked eighth among States with the most rural phones while Andhra Pradesh comes third.

The proportion of rural phones to the total number in a State also provides interesting insights.

As against the national average of one rural phone out of every five, the ratio is higher in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala and Punjab. Maharashtra does not figure in the rurally-prosperous States because Mumbai skews the proportion in the favour of urban areas.

But after Kerala, it has the highest number of rural phones.

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