Mobile cos add a record 19.10 mn in Dec

The mobile operators together added a whopping 19.10 million new subscribers in December, taking the mobile user base to 525.15 million, according to the data released by the sectoral watchdog Trai.

In November, total wireless (GSM, CDMA and WLL) subscriber base was 506.04 million. With the 19.10-million new mobile users in December, total telephone subscriber base (wireless and wireline) touched 562.21 million, Trai added.

With this record addition, the overall tele-density stood at 47.89 (telephones per 100 people) at the end of December.

Tata Teleservices was the biggest grosser in the wireless space in December by adding a hefty 3.33 million new subscribers, while the market leader Bharti Airtel came second with 2.85 million new user additions, Reliance Communications added 2.81 million, and Vodafone added 2.8 million users in the reporting month.

Idea Cellular added 1.71 million users, while Aircel added 1.67 million users in the month, and the state-run telcos BSNL and MTNL added 2.08 million and 0.06 million users, respectively in the month.

However, the wireline segment continued to fall, with the subscriber base shrinking to 37.06 million in December from 37.16 million in the previous month.

BSNL and MTNL, which hold 85.22 per cent of the wireline market, lost 0.12 million subscribers in December, the regulator said.

Meanwhile, the broadband subscriber base touched 7.83 million in December from 7.57 million in the previous month.