Idea Cellular, which has received the Department of Telecommunications’ approval for a merger with Vodafone India, has added the most number of users in June with the addition of 6.3 million users on its network. This takes its total subscriber base to 220.59 million.

However, Bharti Airtel continued to remain as the leading telecom operator in the country with a total user base of 344.56 million. The New Delhi-based operator added 10,689 subscribers in June, according to data released by industry body Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI).

Airtel was followed by Vodafone India, with a total user base of 222.73 million subscribers. With the merger expected to be completed this month, this will put Idea-Vodafone combine at the top of the table with a subscriber base of 443.32 million.

Reliance Jio Infocomm had a total user base of 215.4 million, while all the private telecom service providers in the country together had a total of 993.43 million mobile subscribers as of June-end, COAI data showed.

“We are glad to see the constant growth of the subscribers’ base and expansion of connectivity in the rural areas. With this increasing reach, people are also shifting to 4G technology. As the Draft National Digital Communications Policy 2018 proposes extending exemptions for the construction of telecom towers and provide accelerated Rights of Way permissions for telecom tower, the telecom connectivity will soon reach to the last person of the country,” Rajan S Mathews, Director General at COAI said.

The COAI data did not include subscriber figures of BSNL, MTNL, Tata and RCom.

“The growth seen in mobile subscribers this month is encouraging,,” he added.

Among the telecom circles, UP (East) remained at the top with a total of 86.88 million subscribers, while Maharashtra remained at second position with a total of 83.73 million subscribers.

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