GSM operators lose 7.10 mn users in August

The GSM operators in the country lost over 7.10 million subscribers in August this year, bringing down the total subscriber base in the country to 671.95 million.
 
The country's top three operators – Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular - lost over 5.1 million users in August, according to data released by GSM operators' body Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) said.

The top three operators account for close to 68 per cent of the GSM market.

Bharti Airtel lost 1.90 million users during the month, taking its total its subscriber base to 186.9 million. The company had a 27.82 per cent market share as of August.

Idea Cellular lost 1.64 million users and its total subscriber base fell to 115.97 million, while Vodafone lost 1.55 million users. Vodafone's total user base fell to 153.35 million at the end of the reporting month.

However, Aircel and Loop Mobile were the only operators to have recorded subscriber additions. While Aircel added 793,717 new users, Loop Mobile added 79,842 new subscribers.

Uninor, which was growing strongly in the last few months, witnessed the sharpest decline of 2.38 million users, taking its subscriber base to 42.11 million.