GSM operators add a meagre 0.24 mn in October

India's GSM operators added a meagre 0.24 million users in October, but managed to arrest the consecutive slide in subscriber additions of the previous two months.

The total number of GSM subscribers rose to 671.91 million as of October-end, a 0.04 per cent rise from 671.67 million users as of September, according to data released by the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI).

In September, the subscriber base had fallen by 1.9 million users following a whopping 7.1 million fall in August.

The top three operators -- Airtel, Vodafone and Idea -- which account for about 68 per cent of the GSM market, added over 1.2 million users in October, data from the GSM operators' body said.

Bharti Airtel, the country's largest telecom operator, led the subscriber additions for the reporting month by garnering 0.49 million users. The GSM operator garnered a total of 186.41 million subscribers, while it also maintained its leadership position with a 27.74 per cent market share.

Vodafone India added 0.48 million users during the month under review, taking its total to 153.15 million users. The company had a 22.79 per cent market share as of October. Idea Cellular had added 0.24 million users during the month, increasing its total user base to about 115.70 million as of October. The Aditya Birla group company ranked third with a 17.22 per cent marker share.

However, Uninor and Videocon lost 1.1 million users and 59,151 users, respectively in October. The subscriber base of Uninor stood at 41.03 million, while that of Videocon stood was at 4.39 million by the month end.