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Our Bureau

New Delhi, Feb. 10 GSM mobile subscriber base continues to grow at a scorching pace not withstanding the economic downturn.

GSM-based mobile operators added a record 9.3 million users in January 2009 making it the highest-ever monthly addition till now. The previous best was in December 2008 when they got 8.5 million new mobile users.

Almost all the operators saw a record number of new users led by Bharti Airtel, which increased its total subscriber base by another 2.73 million in January. Vodafone Essar got 2.4 million new users while Idea Cellular reported 2 million additions. BSNL added 1.3 million mobile users.

With this, the total GSM subscriber base is at 267.5 million.

Bharti Airtel has the highest number of users at 88.38 million followed by Vodafone Essar at 63.3 million. BSNL is at the third spot with 42.67 million subscribers.

Market watchers said that the operators’ move to decrease the entry cost of lifetime pre-paid cards may have contributed to the growth. Analysts said operators are pushing hard to get more subscribers given that average revenue per user and minutes of usage have been on the decline.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Trends

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