GSM operators added 5.95 million subscribers in August to take their total subscriber base in the country to 147.7 million, according to figures released by the GSM representative body, Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI), on Thursday.
The 5.95-million GSM subscriber addition excludes subscribers added by Reliance Telecom in August as the telco has so far not released subscriber figures for the month.
Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile operator added 2.05 million users in August, lifting its user base to 46.8 million. The telco now has a 31.7% share of the GSM market.
Vodafone Essar added 1.7 million users to take its subscriber base of 34.1 million. It has a 23.1% share among GSM operators.
State-owned telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) added 0.72 million users in August, taking its user base to 29.7 million. Its share among GSM players is 20.11%.
Idea Cellular gained 0.86 million subscribers in August, lifting its user base to 17.9 million and giving it a GSM market share of 12.10%.
In July, the GSM subscriber base in the country had grown by 5.84 million to 141.74 million from 135.9 million in June.
The total number of telecom subscribers, both fixedline and wireless, reached 232.87 million by July-end, led by an addition of 8 million subscribers in the month of July alone, according to figures released earlier by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
In the wireless segment, 8.06 million subscribers were added in July, taking the total wireless subscriber base, including GSM, CDMA & wireless in local loop (fixed), to 192.98 million.