Mobile user base falls first time in 5 months

Reliance Communications Rcom lost 1.04 crore users in September. Its subscriber base at the September 2013 stood at 11.62 crore.

As a result of the deactivations,Rcom has slipped to fourth position in the wireless user base in the country with 13.35 per cent market share.

Reliance Communications has deactivated the services of around 10 million unprofitable,low-end subscribers at the lowest end of the ARPU range,who had not used their phones for over two months. This is in line with the industry practice and has no impact on customer experience or the companys revenues, an Rcom spokesperson said.

We continue to focus on improving the contribution from profitable minutes on our network, he added.

The overall share of urban wireless subscribers has declined from 59.98 per cent to 59.75 per cent whereas share of rural wireless subscribers has increased from 40.02 per cent to 40.25 per cent.

The overall wireless teledensity in India has declined to 70.63 per cent from 71.21 per cent of previous month,Trai said.

The number of telephone subscribers in India decreased from 906.18 million at the end of August,2013 to 899.86 million at the end of September 2013,thereby showing a monthly decline of 0.70 per cent, Trai said.

As on September-end,private operators held 88.33 per cent of the wireless market share whereas BSNL and MTNL held 11.67 per cent.