Indian GSM operators add 4.14 million rural subscribers in January
22 Feb 2014
Indian GSM operators have added 4.14 million subscribers in January, a 1.5 per cent increase from the previous month, with Vodafone India topping the user addition charts.
The country's total rural GSM subscriber base rose to 285.35 million as of January-end, according to data released by GSM operators' body the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI).
Vodafone India added 1.31 million subscribers, taking its total to 87.43 million in January, followed by Bharti Airtel with a net addition of 1.25 million rural users.
Airtel, the country's largest telecom service provider by subscribers and revenues, maintained its leadership in the rural segment also with a total of 91.40 million customers.
Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla group company, added 0.87 million users, taking the total to 71.25 million and Aircel added 0.40 million, increasing the total to 24.64 million. Telewings, formerly Uninor, added 0.31 million users during the month under review, taking its total rural user base to 10.63 million.
While Uttar Pradesh (East) had the maximum rural user base of 29.42 million, the highest user addition of 574,412 was registered from Tamil Nadu circle.
The country's total rural subscriber base (GSM, CDMA and wired connections) stood at 365.79 million as of 31 December 2013. Of this, wireless users accounted for 359.67 million and wireline connections the remaining 6.12 million, according to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
The country's rural tele-density (telephones per 100 people) stood at 42.67, with 41.95 for wireless an 0.71 for wired connections.
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