Maha has largest internet subscriber base

Maharashtra has the largest internet subscriber base in the country and high mobile phone density, revealed the state economic survey for 2011-12 released on Thursday.

Maharashtra has the largest internet subscriber base in the country and high mobile phone density, revealed the state economic survey for 2011-12 released on Thursday.

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As on March 31, 2011, 14.93 lakh users - highest in the country - had an internet connection with a speed of less than 256 kilobytes per second (kbps), while 22.88 lakh had a broadband connection with a speed of or more than 256 kbps. Though separate figures for Mumbai were not released, experts said that Mumbai has the largest internet subscriber base in the state.

Meanwhile, only 6,000 persons per lakh of the population do not have mobile phones. The number of mobile phone users was 94,181 persons per lakh of the population at the end of December 2011. Continuing with the steady decline, there were 56.69 lakh landline connections in the state at the end of December 2011.

Private sector operators control 91.7% of the wireless market share whereas the two public sector operators - Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd - collectively hold only 8.3% of the market share.

The mobile number portability scheme got 33.36 lakh state-wide requests and 10.23 lakh requests from Mumbai.