GSM players add 6.2 mn users in Jan

GSM operators in the country have added 6.19 million users in January, increasing their total mobile subscriber base to 178.4 million.

This is an increase of 8.59 per cent from 5.7 million customers added in December 2007, according to the data released by the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI).

Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel maintained the top slot with a market share of 32.18 per cent and a total user base of 57.41 million. The company added 2.25 million users in January, up from 2.2 million added in December.

COAI did not provide subscriber numbers of Reliance Communications, even though the CDMA major has GSM operations in the country's north-eastern circles.

Vodafone-Essar added over 1.28 million new users and maintained a market share of 23.06 per cent. The company's total subscriber base stood at 41.14 million during the end of the reporting month.

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) added 1 million users in January, taking its total to 33.7 million and garnering a market share of 18.92 per cent.

Aditya Birla-promoted Idea Cellular raked in a total of 21.95 million users, gaining 900,658 subscribers, while Aircel reported a base of 9.93 million and Spice had 3.9 million subscribers.

MTNL, which provides mobile services in Delhi and Mumbai, added 58,319 users in the same period. It now has a total user base of 3.01 million.