Indian telecoms is growing again, at 7m subscribers per month

(Image: Shutterstock)We are on the move again.From late 2012 through much of 2013 the number of subscribers in Indian telecoms remained below levels that had reached earlier.  This was mainly due to a “subscriber clean up” stipulated by the regulatory authorities in late 2012, which obligated operators to disconnect all subscriptions which did not have sufficient “know your customer” details available (name, address, date of birth, etc).  As a result, tens of millions of connections were cut off, many of which were dormant accounts.According to TRAI’s subscriber numbers released recently subscriber numbers stood at 893m in January 2014, representing a connections increase of 7m in the month from December 2013.  That is perhaps half the rate of additions three years ago, but it still means Indian telecom numbers are growing again, and the country has the highest connections growth rate (by number) in the world.  Four to five players are sharing the additions between them – these being Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Aircel, Uninor and  Videocon.  A number are holding steady, and others are in decline.There is one other interesting observation, which is that “active VLR” subscribers are as high as 773m, almost 90% of total reported subscribers.  These are subscribers who are registered on the network as active in the month, and therefore not dormant connections.  Before the regulatory clean up, this figure was well below 80%, indicating that the exercise has been successful.  Finally, we have subscriber numbers in India which are more consistently measured and not inflated compared to other countries.  Not only are we on top of the world, but the numbers are sans masala!Follow me on Twitter for regular comment on what’s happening in the telecoms world @mtchowdhury.