Impact of Mobile on Landline Telephone

The mobile telephone services were introduced in the country in mid-nineties. The landline telephones continued to increase till the year 2002-03. Thereafter, it declined during the year 2003-04, increased during 2004-05, declined during 2005-06 and then again increased during the year 2006-07. Thereafter, the landline telephones have been continuously declining.  The year-wise detail of number of landline and mobile telephones for the last 15 years is given in the table.

Improving landline services is a continuous process. Some of the remedial measures taken by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to improve landline telephone services are given as under:

(i)       Provision of speaker phone handset with new landline connection.

(ii)     Introduction of Call Data Records based billing.

(iii)   Introduction of value added services like broadband and Polyphonic Ring Back Tone.

(iv)   Charging of Subscribers Trunk Dialing (STD) calls at local rates from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited landline to any landline.

(v)     Upgradation of external plant.

(vi)   Strict monitoring of Quality of Service parameters as per norms specified by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Number of landline and mobile telephone connections in the country

 (Figures in million)

At the end of March	Landline telephones	Mobile telephones	Total telephones
1997	14.54	0.34	14.88
1998	17.80	0.88	18.68
1999	21.61	1.20	22.81
2000	26.65	1.88	28.53
2001	32.70	3.58	36.28
2002	38.29	6.68	44.97
2003	41.32	13.29	54.61
2004	40.92	35.61	76.53
2005	41.42	56.95	98.37
2006	40.22	101.87	142.09
2007	40.77	165.09	205.86
2008	39.41	261.08	300.49
2009	37.96	391.76	429.72
2010	36.96	584.32	621.28
2011	34.73	811.60	846.33
2012	32.17	919.18	951.35

                This was stated by Shri Milind Deora, the minister of State in the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in response to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Source : PIB, August 8, 2012