Idea tops the subscriber addition chart

Idea Cellular, India's third largest operator by users, added 2.24 million users, topping the GSM subscriber additions lust for March.

The Aditya Birla group company's total subscriber base rose to 135.79 million as of the end of the month, while its market share rose to 18.81 per cent during the month.

The country's GSM operators added a total of 8.26 million users during the month under review, taking the total to 721.93 million.

This compares with the total of 711.02 million users the GSM companies garnered during the previous month, according to data released by industry body Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI).

Vodafone India, the subsidiary of British telecom major Vodafone Group, came in second with an addition of 2.22 million users. The second-ranked company's total user base rose to 166.56 million as of March-end, which also helped it increase its market share to 23.07 per cent.

Bharti Airtel, the country's largest telecom operator by users and revenue, came in third with an addition of 1.89 million users.

However, the New Delhi-based company maintained its leadership position with a total of 205.39 million users and a 28.45 per cent market share.

UP East added the maximum GSM subscribers with 1.09 million in March, increasing its total user base to 63.86 million.

Among metros, Kolkata circle, became the largest contributor with a 1.73 per cent rise, while Mumbai and Delhi circle registered 0.52 per cent and 0.15 per cent growth, respectively.

Aircel added 1 million users during the month, increasing its user base to 70.15 million, while Telewings, formerly Uninor, added 719,121 users during the month increasing its total to 35.60 million users as of March 31.

Videocon added 320,427 users (total users 4.99 million) during the reporting month, while MTNL lost 134,610 users.