India mobile communication penetration reaches 64.7%

India's Telecommunications Authority (TRAI) March 7 released the latest statistics show that as of the end of January 2011, the number of mobile users in India has reached 771 million, in December 2010, the basis of the 752 million increase of 19 million, mobile communication penetration rate reached 64.7%.　　Statistics show that the number of new mobile users in India, rural users faster than urban users. In January this year, the number of rural mobile users in India grew by 3.2% from 251 million in December 2010 to 259 million, accounting for 33.58% of the total number of mobile users in India, according to TRAI data.　　In contrast, urban users grew from 501 million in December 2010 to 2.2%, to 512 million, and the total number of users fell from 66.65% to 66.42%. In January this year, the market share of Bharti Airtel, India's biggest telecoms operator, fell slightly, from 20.27% to 20.2%. The market share of Reliance Communications, India's second-largest telecoms operator, Rose 0.01% to 16.71%. Vodafone Essar, the third-ranked market share, remained unchanged at 16.52%. The market share of BSNL and MTNL, the state-owned telecoms operator, fell 0.01% and 0.02% respectively.　　In India, Trai said, private telecoms operators accounted for 87.78% of the mobile market, while BSNL and MTNL had only 12.22% per cent. As of the end of January this year, the number of fixed broadband subscribers in India increased from 10.92 million last December to 11.2 million, Trai said.