GSM operators added 9 million users in March

GSM operators in the country added 8.97 million users during April 2009 (excluding Reliance Telecom), after recording the highest mobile subscriber addition of 11.2 million last month.

India’s largest mobile operator Bharti Airtel, on the verge of reaching the milestone of 100 million subscribers, led the subscriber base which hit 297.7 million at the end of April, 3.09 per cent more than 288.76 million in the previous month.

According to TV Ramachandra, director general, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), “March was also the month of closing annual accounts, so companies tend to be more aggressive during that month. Therefore, this month, the demand has rationalised.”

Bharti Airtel continued to dominate the market as its user base rose to 96.73 million in April, after it added 2.81 million subscribers. However, with the entry of new operators in the GSM market, the company’s market share marginally declined to 32.49 per cent as compared to 32.57 per cent in the previous month.

Vodafone-Essar added about 2.7 million customers to its total subscriber base, witnessing an increase of 4.03 per cent over March 2009. The company increased its market share to 24.03 per cent as against 23.79 per cent in March this year. The company’s total subscriber base stood 71.5 million at the end of the reporting month.

Meanwhile, the state-owned operators lost market share to the private operators in April after achieving stability in the early months of the year. The market share of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) which operates pan-India operations, except Delhi and Mumbai, stood at 16.03 per cent in April, against 16.19 per cent in the previous month. The company added about 1.03 million subscribers during the month taking its total subscriber base to 47.72 million.

Another state-owned telco, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), which operates in Delhi and Mumbai, added about 45,000 subscribers to its total base taking it to over 4.2 million. In January 2009, it had added over 92,000 subscribers to its network.

Meanwhile, AV Birla-promoted Idea Cellular (along with Spice Communications) witnessed a rise of 2.59 per cent to its subscriber base as it added about 1.15 million users during March to report a total subscriber base of 44.17 million.

As a result of its expansion into new circles in the country, Aircel Ltd added 1.1 million to its subscriber base, taking it to 19.6 million.