GSM user base crosses 50 mn, adds 2 mn in Sept

India's GSM-based cellular subscriber base has raced past the 50-million mark, with an addition of 1.95 million subscribers during September.

The GSM-base has witnessed a 4.01 per cent growth during the last month and its gross subscriber base is now totals at 50.87 million, according to data compiled by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

With this, India now has the fifth largest GSM subscriber base. China is at the top with 322 million subscribers, followed by Germany at 70 million, the US at 68 million, Italy at 59 million and the UK at 58 million.

September's growth was led by Bharti, which added 6,50,000 subscribers (an increase of 4.88 per cent over its August figures) taking its subscriber base to 14.07 million. Bharti has a market share of 27.65 per cent.

The government-owned BSNL, whose subscriber base grew 4.44 per cent to 11.90 million, is in the second place with a market share of 23.39 per cent.

Hutch, the number three player, has added 4.1 lakh new customers, translating into a growth of 4.44 per cent over August and taking its subscriber base to 9.71 million.

Hutch is followed by Idea, BPL and Aircel with subscriber bases of 5.95 million, 2.81 million and 2.09 million, respectively. Metros and Category A circles witnessed only marginal growth, but Category B and Category C circles recorded a growth of 5.4 per cent and 8.1 per cent, respectively.

Within category B Circles, Uttar Pradesh (East) recorded the maximum growth with 2,30,000 additions, followed by Uttar Pradesh (West) and Rajasthan. In Category C, Bihar witnessed the highest growth followed by Jammu and Kashmir.

Delhi and Mumbai continued to dominate in terms of volume and market share. Delhi is the leading cellular market with 4.71 million subscribers, accounting for 9.3 per cent of the GSM base. Mumbai had 4.51 million subscribers at the end of September and accounted for 8.9 per cent of the GSM base.