BENGALURU: With rural teledensity at 61.69 per cent and urban teledensity touching 181.71 per cent, Karnataka appears to be well-connected. It stands third in the southern states, preceded by Tamil Nadu in first spot and Kerala standing second.  Urban teledensity is three times its rural capacity, and far above the all-India average of 160.78 per cent, the Karnataka Economic Survey report revealed. Its total teledensity is 109.64 per cent, whereas Kerala touches 126.81 per cent and Tamil Nadu 117.78 per cent. 

Teledensity includes both landline and mobile phones. According to the survey, the telecommunication system in Karnataka is operated by both private and public sector undertakings. Apart from BSNL, private companies like Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance and Jio provide wireless and wireline services too, with landline connections declining significantly in the past 10 years. 

Karnataka’s average is higher than the all-India average of 56.99 per cent rural teledensity, 160.78 per cent urban teledensity and 90.11 per cent total teledensity. This increase in teledensity is helping the government, be it sending messages on the weather to farmers or to all members of the panchayat, which now have broadband connections. “We are taking advantage of this and it has eased our job to a large extent. We send voice messages to the people concerned. Voice messages are better than text, and we are able to reach people faster than before,’’ Chief Secretary TM Vijaya Bhaskar said.

Principal Secretary, IT-BT department, Gaurav Gupta told The New Sunday Express that the mobile phone has become omnipresent, with most people owning at least two connections. “This is a communication device which has become part of many services, including government, trade and commerce. Many people use it to shop, order food and book cabs. Another reason is that phones have become cheaper, so people own more than one, thereby increasing the number of connections. It is not surprising,’’ he said. 

While mobile connections have seen a sharp rise, landline connections have declined. According to data available, the number of telephones in 2009 was 21.87 lakh, which reduced by more than half in 2019 to 10.01 lakh. In Bengaluru Urban alone, the number of connections, which was over 9.17 lakh, has reduced to 5.05 lakh. The report says the decline in the number of landlines can be partly attributed to increased private participation in the mobile sector and a switch to mobile phones.