Mumbai tops in landline surrenders

Mumbai tops the list among the metros when it comes to the number of surrendered/ disconnected fixed line phones.  As many as 57,420 landline phones were cut off in the metro till October this fiscal by  Mahanagar Telephone Nigam  Ltd (MTNL), according to estimates available with the government. As of end-October, the total number of landline phone subscribers in Mumbai (including those with private operators) was 2.89 million.

MTNL offers services in Delhi and Mumbai, while the other state-owned telco, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), is present in the rest of the country.  Chennai is next to Mumbai, having lost 57,243 fixed phone connections in the corresponding period this year. The total number of wireline phones in Chennai in October was 1.4 million.

Kolkata is third, having witnessed 47,150 BSNL subscribers surrender their fixed line phones this year. The city had a total of 1.53 million landline connections on last count.
Delhi and the NCR region saw the least number of landline surrenders among the metros, at 47,079, just a notch below Kolkata. The total number of fixed line phones in Delhi and NCR stood at 2.65 million.

Surprisingly, according to figures given by the Telecom  Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), the metros (taken together) were the only ones to record growth in landline subscriber numbers in the one-year period from October 2008 to October 2009. While landline users in metros grew by 5.3%, additions in Circle A, B and C dropped by 4.6%, 4.3% and 5.9%, respectively.

On all-India basis, the landline subscriber base dropped by 2.5% during the period.
Industry analysts pointed out that metros have witnessed some growth in the past few months as telecom companies are offering fixed line phones with broadband connections.

However, all circles around the country have witnessed fixed phone disconnections, as mobiles have become the preferred mode of communication.  State-wise, Maharashtra saw the maximum number of landline surrenders this year at a whopping 3.32 lakh, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 2.43 lakh.

Tamil Nadu lost 2.06 lakh fixed line subscribers, Karnataka lost 1.87 lakh, Gujarat lost 1.32 lakh and Kerala lost 1.25 lakh in the same period. Overall, 21.7 lakh fixed line phones of BSNL and MTNL were surrendered or disconnected between April and October 2009. As of end of October, the country had 3.72 crore landline subscribers, and 48.8 crore mobile phone users.