44 lakh new mobile subscribers added in February

The mobile telecom services segment is showing no signs of a slow down as mobile subscriber base, GSM and CDMA combined, expanded by 44 lakh during February 2006.

GSM mobile operators added a total of 31 lakh new subscribers for the month of February 2006, marginally lower than the 35 lakh added for January 2006. The total GSM subscriber base expanded by 5.16 per cent over January 2005 to a total of 6.52 crore.

Bharti added more than 10 lakh customers for the second successive month. BSNL could not repeat its January performance as subscriber additions for February fell far short of the 10 lakh figure.

Operator	Total subscribers in crore - Feb 06	Total subscribers in crore - Jan 06	Feb 06 additions in lakh	Market share in %
Bharti	1.85	1.74	10.1	28
BSNL	1.61	1.54	0.7	25
Hutch	1.59	1.51	0.8	24
Idea	0.7	0.67	0.3	11

Note: Hutch figures include BPL

The Tata and AV Birla groups, joint promoters of Idea Cellular, are in the middle of a public spat. The Birlas have asked the government to direct the Tata group to divest their stake in Idea as a single entity cannot hold more than 10 per cent each in two telecom operators in the same circle. The Tata group is the promoter of Tata Teleservices, a pan-India CDMA operator.

In turn, the Tata group has accused the Birla group of violation of shareholder agreement by disclosing the financials of Idea Cellular. The Tata group has written to the Birla group expressing willingness to buy out its stake. However, as Tatas can own only one mobile company, this move is seen as more of a pressure tactic.

There are unconfirmed reports that the government is not happy with the stake held by Egyptian company Orascom in Hutchison Essar. Orascom has a 10-per cent beneficial interest in Hutch through its 20-per cent holding in Hutchison Telecom International. Orascom is a major telecom company in Asia and the dominant player in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

CDMA operators have added 12 lakh new subscribers during the month f February, mostly by Reliance Infocomm. Tata Teleservices, which had seen growth rates far above the industry average in recent months, fell behind during the month.

Reliance Communication Ventures, the holding company of CDMA operator Reliance Infocomm and GSM provider Reliance Telecom, got listed on the exchanges this week. With a market capitalisation of more than Rs37,000 crore, the company has become the second most valuable listed telecom company after Bharti.

Following the launch of 'One India' plan by BSNL, most private operators have also launched similar schemes offering standard calling rates of Re1 per minute on long distance calls across the country, irrespective of the distance.