As per industry data released on Tuesday, the country had 346.89 mobile phone users as of December 2008-end compared to 233 mn in the corresponding period a year ago.
As per sector regulator Trai, the total number of telephone connections (mobile and fixed) has touched 385 million as of December-end, taking the telecom penetration to over 33%. This implies, one out of every three Indian has a telephone connection.
On the other hand, fixed-line numbers continued to tumble. The landline customer base was down by 3% in 2008 to 37.90 mn. Mobile customers now out-number landline users by around 9 times. Despite registering close to 75% growth in its broadband subscriber base, the penetration of high-speed internet connections remains dismally low. A mere 5.5 mn users have a broadband internet connection.
The growth in 2008 was led by Bharti Airtel, the country's largest communications provider. Bharti had 85.6 million customers as of December-end, when compared to 61.3 million of Reliance Communications and about 61 million of Vodafone Essar.
In fact, Bharti has more customers than the state-owned BSNL's mobile and landline users combined. The PSU finished 2008 with 46.2-million mobile subscribers and 29.5-million landline customers.
Telecom companies estimate growth in 2009 to be higher: "We are extremely bullish that the growth will continue in 2009. This year, the number of additions will be in excess of 130 million.
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