India GSM operators add 7.55 million new users in December

India's GSM operators added 7.55 million new subscribers in December, increasing the total subscriber base to 639.64 million, with Idea Cellular leading the pack by adding 2.39 million new users.

GSM, the leading standard for mobile telephony systems in the world, operators, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular, added 6.68 million users in November. CDMA is another technology platform on which operators offer their services.

Idea Cellular added the most 2.39 million new subscribers in December taking its subscriber base to 106.38 million. The company posted a 16.63-per cent, a 2.30 per cent rise from that a year ago, according to data released by the Cellular Operators s the Association of India (COAI).

The Aditya Birla group firm had added 2.17 million users in November, the highest during the month.

Bharti Airtel, the country's largest mobile operator by subscriber base, added 9.60 lakh subscribers, taking its total to 175.65 million users. The market share of the company grew 0.55 per cent to 27.46 per cent in December, compared with that a month ago.

New telecom player Uninor added 2.12 million new customers during the month compared to 1.86 million in November.

Vodafone Essar, the second-rung operator, added 9 lakh users in December against 9.2 lakh in November, taking its total subscriber base to 147.74 million. The Mumbai-based company's market share dropped to 23.10 per cent in December from 23.23 per cent in the previous month.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), the two public sector undertakings, added 4.2 lakh and 44,664, respectively. BSNL's total subscriber base rose to 92.56 million, while that of MTNL was at 5.44 million.

Aircel added 6.8 lakh customers taking its subscriber base to 61.64 million.