GSM mobile operators add 61.2 lakh users in September: COAI

The user base stood at 74.99 crore at the end of August 2014

The GSM subscriber base in the country rose marginally to 75.60 crore in September with mobile operators adding 61.2 lakh users during the month, industry body COAI said today.

The GSM user base stood at 74.99 crore at the end of August 2014, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said.

COAI, which represents telecom players like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, said the data does not include GSM subscriber number of Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices.

Reliance Jio Infocomm had also joined the body but the company is yet to start telecom services.

"All India GSM cellular subscriber figures as of September 2014 stood at 756.08 million. The GSM subscribers increase by 6.12 million in September 2014 (0.82% increase from previous month)," COAI said.

Idea Cellular added the maximum number of users in September with 17.2 lakh subscribers joining its network. The total base of the company stood at 14.35 crore with a market share of 18.99% at the end of the month.

Vodafone added 13.5 lakh users to take its base to 17.38 crore and market share to 22.99% at the end of September.

Bharti Airtel added 10.22 lakh users in the month to take its subscriber base to 21.15 crore in the reported period. It has a market share of 27.98% at the end of September.

Aircel added 9.56 lakh users in the reported period and its user base stood at 7.58 crore at the end of the month whereas Uninor added 9.41 lakh users to take its base to 4.18 crore.

Videocon added 1.07 lakh subscribers to take its base to 59.41 lakh and state-run MTNL added 14,223 users to take its base to 33.08 lakh at the end of September.