AHMEDABAD: With people discontinuing mobile connections and service issues due to the Covid-19 pandemic, rural Gujarat saw a reduction of some 3.3 lakh telecom subscribers in the April to June quarter this year. The latest performance indicator report of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), suggests that rural telecom subscribers in Gujarat fell from 2.788 crore to 2.755 crore from the January-March quarter to the April-June quarter.
Telecom operators said many connections expired and could not be renewed due to Covid-19 restrictions imposed due to the second wave of Covid-19 cases in April and May.
“People in rural areas look for cost-effective plans and tend to switch more often than those in urban areas. The reduction in the total number of subscribers includes SIM cards that were left unused or not renewed and their connections were disconnected,” said a telecom sector source.
Sources said that a smaller number of people with multiple connections discontinued one or more to reduce their expenses.
Industry players also attribute the decline in subscriber numbers to serviceability constraints. “The second-wave of Covid-19 hit during the April to June quarter. Due to this, shops stayed closed for a long time due to the restrictions and people did not venture out to get connections activated or get new connections. As a result, the overall number of connections fell,” a source said.
The trend, according to TRAI, was similar across the country. “Rural telephone subscribers decreased from 53.74 crore at the end of March 2021 to 53.64 crore at the end of June 2021. Rural tele-density also decreased from 60.27% to 60.10% in this period,” states the performance indicator report.
