1.5 m new GSM users in Sept

The GSM (Global System for Mobile)-based mobile service providers added about 1.533 million new users to their subscriber base in September.

The subscriber base increased 4.79 per cent during the month to 33.56 million, compared to 32.01 million subscribers at the end of August 2004.

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd maintained its pace of subscriber addition, adding 6,47,125 new subscribers in September. It had added 6,28,000 subscribers in August.

Bharti retained its dominance, with about 25.93 per cent of the GSM subscriber base, followed by BSNL with 22.43 per cent.

While BSNL's market share increased marginally from 21.46 per cent in August, Hutch's market share declined to 18.99 per cent in September, from 19.33 per cent in August.

Bharti added about 4.15 lakh subscribers in September, compared to the 2.86 lakh subscribers it had added in August.

Its subscriber base reached 8.7 million by the end of September.

Among the other players, Hutch added about 1.81 lakh subscribers in September. It had added about 1.9 lakh subscribers in August. Idea added only 56,784 subscribers in September.

The subscriber bases of Hutch and Idea stood at 63.71 million and 43.55 million, respectively, at the end of September 2004. BPL, which operates in the Mumbai, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu and Kerala circles, added 74,248 subscribers in September, taking its subscriber base to 23.41 million. MTNL added only 2,586 subscribers in September.

The Category C circles witnessed an impressive 12.8 per cent increase in their GSM subscriber base. Subscriber growth in the metros was about 2.68 per cent, compared to 4.16 per cent for the 'A' circles and 5.36 per cent for the 'B' circles during September.

Among the metro circles, the GSM subscriber base grew at the highest rate of 5.09 per cent in Chennai and the lowest rate (1.53 per cent) in Kolkata.