Mobile subscriber growth dips in April

New GSM users fall by 40%, CDMA users down 37.5%.

Growth in mobile subscriber base dipped by nearly 40 per cent in April. During the month, 1.2 million subscribers were added compared with 2 million in March.

While the number of new GSM users declined 40 per cent from 1.5 million to 0.9 million, CDMA-based mobile subscriptions were down 37.5 per cent from 4 lakh in March to 2.5 lakh in April.

This is the first time since September that the mobile subscriber growth rate has fallen.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)said the market had reached a saturation point and with no scope of lowering tariffs, operators were unable to rope in the low-end users. Moreover, the high cost of infrastructure was keeping operators from rolling out services to remote areas where there are potential mobile users.

"The low-end users' needs will have to be tapped to increase the subscriber base. But because of the duty and tax structure, operators cannot induce them with lower tariffs. There are over 180 million addressable mobile users, but reaching out to them is expensive. Therefore, infrastructure sharing with BSNL should be allowed," said T V Ramachandran, director general, COAI.