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India’s GSM operators added 4.3 million subscribers in October, a slight increase from the previous month, taking its total subscriber base to 683.16 million.
In September, the addition was 4.41 million with a total user base at 678.82 million.
The subscriber addition was led by Bharti Airtel, with the company roping in about 1.48 million new users and increasing its total subscriber base to 194.88 million in October. The country’s largest telecom operator by both subscribers and revenues, maintained its leadership position with a 28.53 per cent market share, according to data released by the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI).
Among the telecom services areas, Uttar Pradesh (West) topped the charts with a total of 59.72 million GSM subscribers, COAI – the GSM operators’ body - said.
Vodafone India added 1.15 million users, and maintained its position with a 22.94 per cent market share. The company, a subsidiary of Britain’s Vodafone Group, garnered a total of 156.69 million users during the month.
Idea Cellular has added 1.14 million users, increasing its total user base to 128.38 million. During the month under review, the Aditya Birla group company, which overtook Reliance Communications to become the third largest mobile operator, added 11.4 lakh new subscribers.
Aircel, in which Malaysia’s Maxis Communications holds a majority stake, added 497,112 users, garnering a total of 63.7 million users with a marketshare of 9.33 per cent share.
Videocon Telecom added 239,984 users during the month taking its total to 3.48 million.
“The significant traction that we are getting from mobile number portability customers shows that consumers across other telecom operators are impressed by our products and network reach and thus are joining our family,” said Arvind Bali Director and Chief Executive Officer at Videocon Telecom.
However, Uninor lost 21,935 users (total 32.33 million) during the reporting month, while State-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) lost 164,698 users reaching a tally of 3.44 million.
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