One in every five persons in India now owns a telephone as the total number of subscribers reached 232.87 million by July, led by an addition of eight million mobile subscribers, according to the Trai. [via PTI]

Other data points:

- Tele-density rose to 20.52 percent in July 2007 from 19.86 percent in June 2007.
- In the wireless segment, 8.06 million subscribers were added in July, against the addition of 7.34 million June—taking the the total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA & WLL (F)) base to 192.98 million.
- The wireline segment subscriber base fell by 0.20 million to 39.89 million in July.
- Broadband connections touched 2.47 million during July with an addition of 0.05 million links.
- GSM subscriber base grew to 141.74 million from 135.9 million in June.
- Country’s top mobile operator Bharti Airtel captured 31.58 percent share of the market. It added two million new users and its subscriber base touched 44.76 million.
- Vodafone Essar added 1.68 million new users to take its user base to 32.43 million to retain the second slot, while state-run BSNL which is struggling with capacity expansion added just 0.55 million (5 lakh) new users to remain at the third slot with a user base of 28.97 million.

Nikhil adds: Here’s a chart of the dismal growth in broadband connections:

more charts and data in the TRAI release, here.