India has permitted 907 satellite TV channels for up linking and downlinking, apart from having four DTH services in the country, according to new data released by Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday

As per mandatory filings with TRAI done by broadcasters, there were 326 pay TV channels as on December 31, 2020, which include 233 SD (standard definition) pay TV channels and 93 HD (high definition) pay TV channels.

According to the data, as of quarter-ending December 2020, there were four pay DTH service providers in the country with a total active subscriber base of around 70.99 million. This is in addition to the subscribers of pubcaster Doordarshan’s FTA DTH service Free Dish.

However, TRAI did not disclose any subscriber figures for Free Dish. The four paid DTH services are Tata Sky, Dish TV-D2h, Airtel Digital and Sun Direct.

Apart from the radio stations operated by pubcaster All India Radio, there were 367 operational private FM Radio stations in 105 cities with operational 31 private FM radio broadcasters. The number is the same as the previous quarter.

The reported advertisement revenue during the quarter ending December 2020 in respect of 366 private FM radio stations stood at Rs. 323.01 crore (Rs. 3230 million) as against Rs.198.53 crore in the previous quarter.

Citing Ministry of Information and Broadcasting data, TRAI said there were 315 operational community radio stations in the country.

Meanwhile, the number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,168.66 million at the end of Sep-20 to 1,173.83 million at the end of Dec-20, registering a growth rate of 0.44 per cent. Overall tele-density too increased from 86.22 per cent from QE Sep-20 to 86.38 per cent as of Dec-20.

Total number of Internet subscribers increased from 776.45 million at the end of Sep-20 to 795.18 million at the end of Dec-20, registering a quarterly growth rate of 2.41 per cent.

Out of 795.18 million Internet subscribers, the number of wired Internet subscribers stood at 25.54 million, while the number of wireless Internet subscribers was 769.64 million.

The Internet subscriber base comprised broadband Internet and narrowband Internet subscribers. The broadband Internet subscriber base increased by 2.90 per cent from 726.32 million to 747.41 million as of Dec-20.

However, the narrowband Internet subscriber base declined by 4.72 per cent from 50.14 million at the end of Sep-20 to 47.77 million at the end of Dec-20.