India GSM operators add 1.70 mn users in July

The GSM operators in the country added 1.70 million new users in July, a 0.25-per cent increase from the previous month, taking the total to 679.05 million, with Bharti Airtel topping the charts in subscriber additions.

Bharti Airtel, which is also the country's largest telecom operator, garnered the maximum of 1.50 million subscribers during the month under review, taking its total to 188.80 million. The New Delhi-based firm had a 27.80-per cent market share as on the end of July, according to data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

Vodafone India, the country's third-largest operator, added 1.20 million customers in July, taking its subscriber base to 154.91 million. The operator, a unit of world's largest telecom operator by Vodafone Inc, had garnered a market share of 22.81 percent during the reporting month.

The GSM subscriber additions in the country have been declining over the previous few months as regulatory hurdles and uncertainty in policies play spoilsport, and with investments in network and infrastructure on hold, the quality of services are also slated to fall.

Idea Cellular, the Aditya Birla group firm, added 0.45 million new subscribers during the month taking its total subscriber base to 117.62 million. The Mumbai-based company had garnered a market share of 17.32 per cent during the month under review.

Uninor, which lost its licences following the 2G telecom scam, witnessed erosion of more than one million subscribers during the reporting month. Uninor – a joint venture between Norway's Telenor and Indian real estate major Unitech – had a total user of 44.49 million.

Videocon, another telecom firm that lost its licences in the 2G telecom scam, also witnessed its subscriber addition eroding during the month under review. The GSM operator lost 0.41 million users, pulling its total subscriber base down to 5.16 million.

State-run telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) did not add a single subscriber during the month, with its subscriber base being at 94.68 million.

The other public sector company Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) lost 90,000 users during the month, with its total user base falling to 5.22 million.