GSM subscriber addition dipped to 7.6 million new users in July indicating a further slowdown in the mobile segment. This is the lowest number of new subscribers added by GSM players since June 2007.

This is also the fifth consecutive month when the numbers have fallen, a huge contrast to last year when the net additions had touched 18 million a month.

According to the Cellular Operators Association of India, the decline is happening due to a number of reasons, including operators focussing on getting higher revenues instead of subscriber addition.

Focussing on returns

“The industry is clearly slowing down. Rollouts into rural areas are getting tougher and operators want a better return on investments, so are now focussing on quality than quantity,” said Mr Rajan Mathews, Director General, COAI.

The dip in numbers is also due to lack of competition among operators on tariffs, which has cut down the number of dual SIM users. None of the operators has offered any new deals on tariffs for the past six months. This has, in-effect, brought down the number of subscribers who would take multiple connections.

Earlier, subscribers had the incentive to take one or more connections to take advantage of a better tariff plan on another operator's network. Some operators, including Airtel, Vodafone, Tata DoCoMo and Reliance Communications, have increased tariffs to improve their business case.

According the COAI, the number may fall to 4-5 million new users a month if operators are not given support by the Government.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW