The rural sector is where the growth lies in the telecom sector and it is seeing a surge in consumption too. Airtel seems to be the number 1 when it comes to having a grip over the rural arena.
The total number of rural subscribers base as on 30th of April 2014 was 297.16 million. 2.58 million new connections were added in the month of April hinting towards a better penetration on behalf of the telecom operators. Airtel emerged as the leader with 94.75 million customers and it was followed by Vodafone (89.69 million), Idea (75.70 million) and Aircel(25.47 million).
The circle of UP (East) had the maximum number of total subscribers (31.41 million) and the Maharashtra circle emerged as the one adding the maximum number of subscribers for April 2014 (5,48,961). Airtel and Idea were the leaders when it came to adding new customers and they added 0.99 million and 0.98 million customers respectively.
The rural teledensity in the country (total of wired and wireless) is 43.96 percent which means that there's still a lot of scope for telecom operators if they play their cards right. Let us how they respond to it.