Now, 63% of households have telephone connection

There are more households with telephones in the country than those which have access to things such as bicycle and television.

According to the Census of India 2011, about 63 per cent of Indian households in the country now have a telephone connection compared to just 9.1 per cent in 2001. Penetration of telephone as a mode of communication surpasses that of television and radio which is at 47.2 per cent and 19.9 per cent, respectively.

There are 24.6 crore households in the country of which 15.5 crore have a telephone connection. There are 13.1 crore households with only mobile and just under a crore houses with only fixed line phones. Nearly 1.4 crore houses have both mobile phones and a fixed line mostly of which are in the urban areas.

The household-based numbers back tele-density data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. According to the TRAI, there are over 900 million phone users in the country. But doubts have been raised about the actual penetration in the country given that there are subscribers with multiple connections. The Census numbers reinforces that telecom penetration is actually happening in the country.

The penetration is happening in both urban and rural areas. While 54 per cent of rural houses have a phone connection, in the urban areas it is 82 per cent. Delhi has the highest penetration with 90 per cent of houses having a phone connection and Chhattisgarh is the laggard with only 30 per cent penetration. For rural areas, Kerala and Chandigarh tops the list with 88 per cent households having a telephone.

For the first time, the Census has mapped households with computers and laptop. While 6.3 per cent of households have either a computer or a laptop without Internet, about 3.1 per cent have the device with Net connection. In this segment, Chandigarh leads with 33 per cent houses having a computing device and Chhattisgarh the worst with just over 4 households with a PC.

tkt@thehindu.co.in