The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) reported (PDF) that India has 164.81 million Internet connections for the quarter ending March 31, 2013. Out of the 164.81 Internet connections, around 6.56 million were narrowband connections, registering a quarterly decrease of 0.5%. India reported a total of 15.05 million broadband subscription, registering a quarterly growth of 0.45% and Year-on-Year (YoY) growth of 8.98%. This excludes the connections who access the Internet through wireless phones. TRAI also noted that around 143.20 million were accessing the Internet through wireless phones. Uttar Pradesh has the most number of Internet connections at 14.85 million, followed by Maharashtra-Goa with 12.64 million Internet connections. Mumbai alone has 10.22 million Internet connections. This follows MediaNama's report in July 2013, questioning the Indian government's claim of 485.6 million Internet subscribers in the country as of September 2012. Starting this report, TRAI will now report Internet access by CDMA connections which was previously being reported under narrowband internet access, will be reported under Internet Access through Wireless Phone. However, in this report, Internet access by CDMA connection has been excluded from narrowband internet access. Operator wise BSNL, with the connection base of 13.13 million Internet connections at the end of March 2013, hold 60% of the market share followed by Reliance (2.49 million), MTNL (1.96 million), Airtel (1.39 million), and Hathway (0.36 million) at fourth place. The top 10 Service Providers (SP) hold 97.78% of the total Internet connection base excluding Internet access by wireless phone connections. Other Highlights - India reported 249.57 million…
