The Hindu Business Line : Cell subscriber base up 1.3 m in June

MOBILE subscriber base has increased by over 1.3 million to take the total user base to 37.2 million at the end of June. Of this, Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM)-based operators have added over 1 million new users, while competing Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology based operators have garnered just over 3 lakh subscribers.

The growth in June is marginally higher than that in May when about 1.1 million subscribers were added.

The mobile user base is expected to overtake the fixed line telephone user base, which is at 42 million, before the end of the year.

Reliance Infocomm, primarily a CDMA based operator, leads the race with over 8 million subscribers.

This includes Reliance's 8 lakh GSM based mobile users. Bharti Cellular, a GSM operator, is the second largest operator with 7.6 million users.

There's a close race for the third spot between the State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd with 5.79 million subscribers and Hutchison-Essar, which has 5.77 million subscribers.

The GSM subscriber base has touched 29 million while the CDMA user base has crossed the 8-million mark.

The Circle A States comprising Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu seems to be the hot spot of cellular activity with over 10 million subscribers.

However, Delhi continues to be the single largest mobile market with over 4 million users. The metros put together add up to 8.6 million cellular subscribers.

The Circle B States of Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are a close third with 8.5 million subscribers.

The growth in these States has been much more pronounced in the last few months and is expected to overtake the metro circles by the end of the year.

The growth in these States is being driven by BSNL, which is rolling out its network to the inner reaches of the country.