The GSM operators in the country have recorded lower subscriber additions of 8.59 million in September, impacted by the 'aggressive' tariff plans launched by operators, including Tata DoCoMo. The GSM operators had added 9.75 million users during the comparable month of August.
The country's leading telecom service provider Bharti Airtel added 2.51 million subscibers during the month, lower than 2.82 million users added during the comparable month of August. Airtel's total subscriber rose to 110 million, while the company with a market share of 32.08 per cent retained its leadership position, according to data released by the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI).
The third-largest operator Vodafone-Essar added 1.97 million users during the month, as against a net addition of 2.19 million in August.
According to COAI Director-General TV Ramachandran, August was comparatively a better month for the GSM players as against September.
The state-owned telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) added 1.30 million new users (1.35 million in August), while Idea Cellular added 1.39 million subscribers (1.54 million last month) during the reporting month. While BSNL's subscriber additions rose to 53.35 million, that of Idea Cellular increased to 51.45 million during the month.
Aircel's subscriber additions were flat at 1.31 million, the company garnered a market share of 7.47 per cent with a total subscriber base of 25.72 million. State-owned telecom major Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd also posted lower net additions of 16,721 (20,150 in August) during the month.
A Mumbai-based analyst, said that the fall could be attributed to the aggressive schemes launched by Tata DoCoMo like one-second billing and per call billing among others. These schemes would have ported away new subscribers on to its networks. This trend could continue for next month as Reliance Communications (RCom) lowering tariff to 50 paise per call would take affect.
RCom and Tata Teleservices, the the two private operators providing both GSM and CDMA services, have not announced their subscriber additions for the month. Both the companies do not provide net additions to COAI.
In a separate statement, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd, service provider of Mumbai and Rest of Maharashtra (RoM) circles, said its subscriber base has crossed a 10-million mark. The company provides both CDMA (under Tata Indicom) and GSM (under Tata DoCoMo) services.