GSM user base up at 71.10 cr in Feb: COAI

The number of mobile subscribers on GSM networks rose by over 1 per cent to 71.10 crore with nationwide addition of 76.1 lakh users in February, industry body COAI said today.
The additions during the month do not include users from the country's largest operator Bharti Airtel as the data could not be compiled due to a technical problem, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said. Airtel's user base at the end of January was 20.08 crore, with 28.25 per cent market share.
The overall GSM user base stood at 70.34 crore at the end of January 2014, it added.

Idea Cellular added 33.32 lakh new users to take its subscriber base to 13.35 crore at the end of February. It has a market share of 18.78 per cent. Vodafone added 21.55 lakh new subscribers and its base stood at 16.43 crore, with 23.11 per cent market share.
Videocon user base grew by over 10 per cent during the month with additions of 4.33 lakh and its base has increased to 46.66 lakh.
Uninor and Aircel added 9.70 lakh and 7.02 lakh users respectively. Uninor subscriber base moved up to 3.48 crore, while that of Aircel was 6.91 crore.
State-owned telecom firm MTNL, which operates in Delhi and Mumbai, added 12,358 subscribers during February taking its user base to 33.79 lakh.

The GSM rural subscriber base stood at 28.88 crore at the end of February.