GSM telcos report net addition in subscriber base after 2 months of steep fall

Added 4 lakh new subscribers in January led by Idea Cellular

After a stiff fall in subscriber base in November and December, GSM operators posted a marginal rise in net subscriber base in January.

 

GSM telcos have added four lakh new subscribers in January led by Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, taking the country’s total GSM subscriber base to 65.75 crore at the end of January 2013, according to data published by industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

 

GSM operators had reported loss of 90 lakh subscribers in November and 66 lakh customers in December 2012 because of huge disconnection of inactive users and strict verification norms for new connections.

 

Idea Cellular topped the net addition chart with 24.5 lakh new customers during January, taking its total subscriber base to 11.64 crore. In December, Idea Cellular reported a loss of 1.97 lakh customers.

 

Bharti Airtel has added 22.86 lakh new subscribers in January to take its mobile total customer base to 18.41 crore till January.

 

Vodafone added just two lakh new subscribers taking its total customer base to 14.77 crore at the end of January 2013.

 

However, Videocon’s mobile customer base declined by 13.8 lakh to 22.57 lakh in January from 36.4 lakh in December. Aircel and Uninor lost 17.75 lakh and 14 lakh customers, respectively in January. Uninor, which closed operations in Mumbai telecom zone last week, had only 26,550 customers in the circle till the end of January 2013.

 

The COAI data included BSNL’s October subscriber base, Loop’s September and MTNL’s as of December 2012.