7.12m GSM users added in October: Cellular Operators Association of India

NEW DELHI: GSM operators added 7.12 million new subscribers in October, taking the total GSM subscriber base to 625.41 million.

This is 1.15% increase from September, when GSM operators added 6.52 million new users.

In October, the growth was led by Uninor which added 2.66 million new users, taking its total user-base to 32.31 million at the end of October, 2011, the data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India ( COAI) on Monday showed. "We have crossed an important milestone of 30 million subscriptions in October...While we aim to sustain this momentum, our focus also remains on revenues and costs in order to achieve our stated target of EBITDA break-even in 2013. We have some distance to go, but we are moving in the right direction," a Uninor spokesperson said.

Bharti Airtel, the largest GSM player, added 0.94 million users, taking its total subscriber base to 173.73 million. It had a market share of 27.78%.

Vodafone Essar, with a 23.33% market share, added 0.92 million new subscribers during the month, taking its subscriber base to 145.91 million at the end of October 2011.