The most controversial and the convenient mobile phone has made the country the second largest subscriber base in the world, just behind China. The gadget with excellent advantages and an equal amount of contra statements has made an average feel disabled without one in hand.

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 to 865.71 million. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the wireless user base grew 0.86% during the month. Overall tele-density in India reached 74.96. However, of the total 865.71 million wireless subscribers, only 608.63 million subscribers were active subscribers on the date of peak visitor location register. Mobile tele-density in urban areas was 157.76, whereas rural areas had just 35.20.

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. During August, about 18.06 million subscribers made requests to change their operators while retaining their phone numbers through Mobile Number Portability (MNP). The top three telecom circles where mobile phone users opted for MNP were Gujarat, with 1.7 million requests, followed by Maharashtra (1.47 million) and Karnataka (1.4 million).

Almost all the new players had at least 50 per cent inactive customers in the system last year. They sold bundled offers and freebies and focused only on increasing numbers. Only Idea, Bharti and Vodafone had over 80 per cent active customers. They continue to maintain the same.