GSM mobile operators add 8.2 mn subscribers in March: COAI

Country's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel adds 2.89 mn subscribers, takes its overall base to 226 mn

The GSM cellular subscribers' base rose by 1.17 per cent in March to reach 705.2 million, with mobile operators adding 8.19 million users during the month, industry body COAI said on Wednesday.

"All India GSM cellular subscriber figures as of March stood at 705.2 million. The GSM subscribers increased by 8.19 million in March, a 1.17 per cent increase from previous month," Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said.

The GSM subscriber base stood at 697 million at the end of February.

COAI, which represents telecom players like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Aircel said the data does not include GSM subscriber number of Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices. It has also stopped reporting the GSM numbers of state-run BSNL.

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

The country's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel added 2.89 million subscribers to take its overall base to 226 million during the month.

Idea Cellular added 2.35 million users and its base stood at 157.8 million whereas Vodafone added 1.36 million subscribers to take its base to 183.8 million at the end of March.

Aircel added 864,000 subscribers and its base increased to 81.3 million while Uninor also added 463,000 users to take its base to 45.6 million at the end of reported period.

State-run MTNL added 19,353 subscribers and its base has increased to 3.42 million. Videocon also added 230,000 users to take its base to 7.13 million.