India GSM operators add 6.50 million users in April

India's GSM operators added 6.50 million subscribers in April, lower than 6.87 million users added in March, taking the total number of GSM users in the country to 670.57 million. The GSM subscriber base stood at 664.08 million in March.

Bharti Airtel, the country's largest operator by subscribers, reported the highest addition of 2.01 million users during the month, taking its total subscriber base to 183.29 million. The New Delhi-based firm had a market share of 27.33 per cent, data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the GSM operators' body, showed.

Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular added 1.48 million new subscribers during the month, taking its subscriber to 114.20 million. The Mumbai based firm had a 17.03 per cent market share.

Vodafone India added 0.81 million customers during the month taking its subscriber base to 151.28 million by the end of April. The company had a 22.56 per cent market share as of end of April.

Uninor, which has seen significant growth in user base in the previous months, added 1.12 million new customers in April. Its user base was at 43.55 million by April-end.

Aircel added 1.01 million new users, taking its total user base to 63.58 million, while Videocom added 0.15 million new customers in the month taking its total base to 6.10 million.

Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL), which provides services under MTS brand, added 0.20 million customers in April taking its total customer base to 16.05 million.

While state-owned telecom firm BSNL did not see any additions, MTNL, also a state-owned firm, lost 0.10 million customers. The subscriber base of BSNL and MTNL stood at 94.67 million and 5.48 million, respectively.