The delay in GSM capacity addition continues to take a toll on Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd?s (BSNL) subscriber base with the state-owned operator adding only 4.2 lakh subscribers during June, against 19.6 lakh and 15.4 lakh added by its rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, respectively.
With this the total subscriber base of BSNL at June-end stood at 28 million, whereas Vodafone Essar, which in April overtook BSNL as the number two player in the GSM segment, has a total subscriber base of 30.75 million. Bharti Airtel continues to be the market leader with a customer base of 42.7 million, according to the data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Friday.
During the month, MTNL added 60,916 mobile phone users, taking its subscriber base to 2.6 million, whereas Idea Cellular added 8.6 lakh subscribers, which making its customer base touch 16 million. Spice, which recently came with its IPO, added 1.6 lakh users to take its total user base to 3.1 million, while BPL
subscriber base touched 10 lakh with an addition of 5,543 customers. The all India GSM subscriber base grew from 130.6 million in May 2007 to 136 million in June, recording an addition of 5.4 million during the month under review. There was an overall growth of 4.12% over the previous month. ?GSM service providers are rapidly enhancing coverage and reach of service, which is getting reflected in the healthy subscriber growth,? said TV Ramachandran, director general, COAI. Among all circles, Category B circles witnessed the highest rate of growth at nearly 5.0%. Within the Category B circles, the highest growth was recorded by the UP (West) at (6.5%) closely followed by West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar Circle at (6.1%).