GSM mobile subscribers up 1.16% to 721.9 mn in Mar: COAI

The number of mobile subscribers on GSM network grew by 1.16 per cent to 721.93 million in March, as per the latest data released by industry body COAI.
"All India GSM cellular subscriber figures as of March, 2014 reached 721.93 million. The (number of) GSM subscribers increased by 8.26 million in March 2014, 1.16 per cent increase from previous month," The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said in its report today.
The number excludes subscribers of Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices, which also have GSM licences but do not report numbers to COAI.
After picking up growth momentum in November 2013, March saw a dip in subscriber growth. In February, over 10.26 million subscribers were added by GSM operators.

The growth in March was led by Idea Cellular, which added over 2.23 million subscribers, followed by Vodafone with 2.22 million and Airtel 1.89 million.
Aircel, Uninor and Videocon added 1 million, 0.72 million and 0.32 million customers, respectively.
Airtel continued to lead GSM mobile services market with a subscriber base of 205.39 million.