While the other GSM players in Punjab managed to expand their customer base in the second quarter of the current financial year (2009-09), Spice Communication, the pioneer cellular service provider in the state, registered a dismal 21 per cent fall in its customer base in the state.
Spice lost over 580,000 subscribers in the state during the second quarter ending September 30.
According to data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) up to June 2008, Spice has a subscriber base of 2.75 million and was number two telecom service provider in terms of subscriber base in Punjab after Airtel.
But the COAI data say the customer base of Spice has come down to 2.17 million as on September 30.
This pulled the service provider down to third position in terms of subscriber base. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) replaced it from number two by achieving 5.3 per cent growth during the second quarter.
The state-run telecom major had a subscriber base of 2.21 million as on September 30, against 2.10 million up to June 30.
The dealers maintained that problem of servicing was the main reason behind the decrease in the customer base of Spice.
However, Spice officials could not be contacted.
According to the COAI figures, up to September 30, the state had a GSM subscriber base of 9.64 million, while it was 9.84 million as on June 30. Airtel is the front-runner in Punjab, with a subscriber base of 3.40 million, followed by BSNL (2.21 million), Spice (2.17 million) and Vodafone (1.84 million).
Punjab has highest tele-density of nearly 47 per cent as compared with the national average of 20 per cent.
It is worth noting that the cellular telephony in the state was rolled out in June 1997 by Spice Communication.
Later on to join the bandwagon was Airtel(February, 2002) followed by BSNL and Hutch(now Vodafone).
The preferred technology among mobile users seems GSM with more than 69 per cent mobile users opting for it.
Besides the GSM players the state has three CDMA players— Reliance, Tata Teleservices and HFCL Connect.
