Gujarat notches highest GSM users among 'A' circle

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| With four cellular operators in the fray "" Hutch, Idea, Airtel and BSNL the figure of GSM mobile phone users in the state has reached up to 50,41,343 a rise by 2,43,401 from 47,97,942 in February 2006. |
| In January 2006, the GSM users figure stood at 45,46,234. |
| Among the operators, Hutch has continued its lead position with 22,57,450 GSM users which increased by 83,337 users from 21,74,113 in March while Idea Cellular is on second position with a gap of 12,32,185. |
| Idea Cellular witnessed a rise of 9,65,773 to 10,25,265 in the month of March. |
| Interestingly, the state owned telecom company BSNL once again took its third position as Airtel once again settled at last position. |
| BSNL ran out of Sim cards and did not supply them in the month of February, informed sources from BSNL, Gujarat Circle. |
| In January the number of BSNL users were 8,27,750 which continued in February. However there was a growth of 71,455 users in March which allowed it to retain the third position. |
| The number of Airtel's number users grew by just 29,117. In February it was third with 8,30,306 which increased to 8,59,423 in March. |
| Airtel was fourth in January and rose to third position in February. |
| However, by March it climbed down to fourth position. Gujarat posted highest number of GSM users among 'A' Circle of India. |
| Only Gujarat Circle has crossed the figure of five million in the said category. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu registered 49,69,967, 48,37,457, 49,37,921 and 45,51,861 GSM users respectively. |
| The other states are on the verge of crossing five million, revealed COAI report released last week. |
| Nationwide the GSM mobile users in India including all circles and metros increased by 38,76,404. |
| It was 6,51,88,550 in February 2006 which has risen to 6,90,64, 954 in March. |
First Published: Apr 10 2006 | 12:00 AM IST