Telcos add 7 million mobile subscribers in September

The total GSM subscriber base now stands at 733.14 million, up 0.97% from August

Telecom operators added 7.04 million GSM subscribers in September, the highest during the July-September quarter, with Karnataka circle leading the list with 0.8 million subscriber addition.

The total GSM subscriber base now stands at 733.14 million, up 0.97 per cent from August, according to data provided by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

Among telecom operators, Idea Cellular snatched the top position from Airtel in terms of total subscriber addition, as it took 2.6 million customers into its fold, up from 2.2 million addition by the top telecom operator.

Vodafone, the second largest telecom operator, added 1.5 million customers during the month, an increase of 0.8 per cent compared to the previous month. Idea Cellular witnessed the highest rise at 1.6 per cent growth during the month. Customer addition has been improving since June, when it the addition was 1.2 million subscribers. In August, it improved to 4.49 million and in September it went up to 7.03 million.

Among others telecom companies, Aircel added 247,092 customers while Telenor increased its customers base by 231,527, a growth rate of 0.30 per cent and 0.49 per cent, respectively. Videocon, which has a little over one per cent market share, witnessed a growth rate of 1.1 per cent from August.

Circle-wise, Bihar witnessed the second highest increase with 0.65 million addition after Karnataka. Both Rajasthan and Maharashtra took the third position with 0.64 million increment for each circle, according to COAI data.