GSM operators add nearly 15mn new subscribers in Oct

India's GSM telecom operators (excluding RCOM and Tata Tele) added close to 15 million new subscribers in October with the total base crossing the 500mn milestone, data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) showed. The telecos offering GSM services saw their base increase by 14.69mn new users last month as against the addition of 12.42mn new users in the previous month, the COAI data showed. With this, the overall GSM subscriber base now stands at 508.73mn versus 494.04mn at the end of September.

Bharti Airtel added the most number of new users in October at 3mn, followed by Vodafone Essar with 2.48mn, according to the COAI data. State-run BSNL and new entrant Uninor added 2.48mn new subscribers in the month under review. Idea Cellular added 1.81mn new users in October while Videocon and Aircel saw their customer base increase by 1mn new users. Bharti Airtel now has the most number of subscribers at 146.29mn followed by Vodafone at 118.04mn. Idea has a total customer base of 76.02mn, and BSNL has more than 75mn customers.