18.18 mn mobile users added in August: Trai

Telecom operators in the country added 18.18 million subscribers in August this year, taking the total number of mobile users in India to 670.60 million, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today said.

According to data released by the telecom regulator, the wireless subscriber base increased from 652.42 million in July, 2010, to 670.60 million by the end of August, 2010, translating into a growth of 2.79 per cent.

The total number of telephone subscribers (both mobile and landline) in India increased to 706.37 million by August-end from 688.38 million in July, it added.
    
With this, the overall teledensity (telephones per 100 people) in India touched 59.63 per cent.
    
The growth in the wireless category was led by Vodafone, which added 2.30 million users to take its subscriber base to 113.77 million users.
    
Hot on the heels of Vodafone, state-run operator BSNL added a whopping 2.25 million users in August, taking its total user base to 76.03 million.
    
Market leader Airtel added 2.03 million users, taking its subscriber base to 141.25 million, while Idea Cellular and Aircel added 1.98 million and 1.61 million subscribers, respectively.
    
Reliance Communications added two million new subscribers in August, while Tata Teleservices added 2.09 million users during the month.
    
Another state-run firm, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, which operates in Delhi and Mumbai, added 27,594 new users during the month.
    
The wireline subscriber base declined to 35.77 million in August, 2010, from 35.96 million at July-end, it said.
    
State-run firms BSNL and MTNL enjoy an 83.68 per cent share of the wireline market.
    
The total broadband subscriber base in India increased by 3.17 per cent from 9.77 million in July to 10.08 million in August 2010, the data showed.