GSM cellular subscriber base in the country has touched 165.8 million-mark at the end of November, against 160 million subscribers at the end of October.
The country added 5.8 million new subscribers during the month, compared with an addition of 6 million mobile phone users in the previous month.
According to the latest data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Monday, Bharti Airtel added 2.05 million mobile users in November, taking its subscriber base to 52.9 million at the end of the month. Vodafone Essar, its nearest rival in the GSM space, added 1.37 million users, taking its total subscriber base to 38.56 million. Bharti and Vodafone Essar had added 2.03 million and 1.52 million, respectively in October.
State-run BSNL and MTNL added 9.1 lakh and 63,867 new users, respectively, taking their respective user base by the end of November to 31.9 million and 2.88 million. Idea Cellular had 20.22 million mobile phone subscribers at the end of November after an addition of 8 lakh new subscribers during the month.
Among circles, the overall subscriber base in Delhi reached 9.9 million from 9.6 million in October, registering a growth of 2.63%.
Mumbai and Chennai, on the other hand, grew 2.58% and 3.87%, respectively, whereas Kolkata grew 2.84%.