Orissa grows fastest among Category-C telecom circles

Orissa has registered the highest growth of 4.1 per cent among the Category-C telecom circles in the country in November 2010 in terms of new subscriber additions. The growth is also higher than the pan-India average of 3.37 per cent for the said period.

The state's GSM subscriber base moved up from 15.34 million in October to 15.96 million by November-end. The growth in subscriber additions has come on the back of enhanced competition due to arrival of new players in the circle, falling tariff and also low penetration of mobile services, especially in the state's hinterland that has offered huge scope for growth.

The highest growth in subscriber base was recorded by Vodafone Essar whose subscribers went up from 1.30 million to 1.52 million, a growth of 16.92 per cent.

Bharti Airtel, the market leader in the circle, took up its subscriber figure from 4.97 million to 4.98 million in the same period. Similarly, BSNL, the second largest GSM player in the Orissa circle, added 166237 subscribers and raised its base to 3.22 million by November end.

Among the other GSM operators, Aircel which operates as Dishnet Wireless, has achieved a subscriber base of 2.25 million by November-end while Idea Cellular has reached a customer base of 0.93 million by the end of November 2010. S Tel and Uninor have achieved a subscriber base of 616,220 and 615,168 respectively. On a countrywide basis, the overall GSM subscriber base stood at 525 million by the end of November end.