GSM subscriber base swells to 656.86 million in February
24 Mar 2012
India's GSM operators added 8.44 million subscribers in February, the highest in the past eight months, taking the total number of GSM users in the country to 656.86 million.
Idea Cellular, which roped in 2.58 million fresh users, topped the subscriber addition chart in February.
This subscriber addition was a 1.35 per cent rise over the previous month, according to the data released by the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI).
The country has added an average of 7 million new users in during the previous months, with firms whose licences were also cancelled continuing to add subscribers.
Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla group firm, now has more than 110 million customers with a 16.8 per cent market share.
Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom service provider by revenue and subscriber base, maintained its lead with 178.78 million subscribers, closely followed by Vodafone India Ltd with 149.4 million.
Airtel added 1.82 users, taking its total user base to 178.77 million. It had a 27.22 percent market share.
Vodafone Essar added 0.83 million new subscribers during the month, taking its subscriber base to 149.44 million in February.
The company, which is in the process of changing its name to Vodafone India, had a 22.75 per cent market share as on January 31, 2012.
Uninor, a joint venture between Norway's Telenor and India's real estate major Unitech, added 2.3 million customers in February.
Uninor now has more than 41.1 million customers in India, and the addition gains importance as all its 22 licences were cancelled following a Supreme Court order in February.
On 2 February 2012, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 2G licences provided after January 2008 in on grounds they were issued in a ''totally arbitrary and unconstitutional'' manner.
The court also directed Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to make fresh recommendations 2G licence allocations (See: SC cancels all 2G licences, orders fresh spectrum auction).
Videocon grew its user base almost as fast as Uninor with 5.9 percent rise to 6.19 million. It added 0.34 million new users, taking its total user base to 6.19 million.
Aircel added 0.79 million customers taking its user base to 63.25 million, whereas MTNL added 38,757 new users taking its base to 5.53 million in February.
Both Etisalat and STel, who had announced their intentions to exit business after their licences were cancelled, did not add any new user.
Circle-wise, Maharashtra saw the highest number of additions of about 1 million new users in February.
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