GSM subscriber addition at 9.47mn in July: COAI

The GSM-based cellular service providers reported subscriber additions of 9.47mn (excluding the GSM subscribers of RCOM) during July, as against addition of 8.89mn in June, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said. With this, the cumulative All India GSM subscriber base has now grown to 325.7mn in July (excluding RCOM), up from 315.78mn in June, the lobby group for GSM operators said. Among the companies, Vodafone Essar added 2.2mn new users in July, taking its total base to 78.68mn while market leader Bharti Airtel saw its total base rise by 2.8mn to 105.18mn. Idea Cellular added 1.42mn new customers, boosting its subscriber base to 48.51mn, while Aircel increased its base by over 1.3mn to 23.1mn. BSNL added 1.62mn new customers, taking its reach to 5mn. Loop Mobile added 44,897 new subscribers, taking its total to 2.35mn. MTNL added 35,413 new customers, boosting its total base to 4.33mn. Bharti Airtel continues to be the top GSM operator in the country, with a market share of 32.29% followed by Vodafone Essar at 24.16%, BSNL at 15.57% and Idea at 14.9%.