India adds 7.3 mln mobile users in August; total at 866 mln

A shareholder speaks on a mobile phone while attending the annual general meeting of Reliance Capital in Mumbai September 27, 2011.

REUTERS - Indian mobile phone operators added a net 7.34 million mobile subscribers in August, or a 0.86 percent growth over the previous month, taking the total connections in the world's second-biggest mobile phone market to 865.71 million.

Mobile phone additions in India have sharply fallen in recent months after rising at a monthly average of 19 million last year, with more than 70 percent of the population now having access to them.

By comparison, China, the world's largest mobile phone market, saw a 1.17 percent monthly increase in total number of mobile subscribers to 927.26 million in August.

NOTE:

* Active mobile subscribers in August were 608.63 million, or about 70 percent of the total connections.

* Mobile tele-density, or mobile connections per 100 people, rose to 72.12 at the end of August, the regulator said. Mobile tele-density in urban areas was 157.76, whereas rural areas had just 35.20.

* By end-August, 18 million mobile subscribers had opted to change their carrier, after India allowed mobile number portability in January.

* Broadband users rose to 12.69 million in August from 12.50 million in July.

* Fixed-line subscribers fell to 34.07 million at the end of August from 34.18 million in July.

* Including fixed-line phones, India had 899.78 million phones as at end-August, or a total tele-density of 74.96.

(Compiled by Devidutta Tripathy in NEW DELHI; editing by Malini Menon)