Cellular subscriber base crosses 75 mn

NEW DELHI: The GSM technology-based cellular subscriber base swelled by over three mn last month, touching 75.3 mn with Bharti capturing 29 per cent of the market share as demand increases in the world's fastest growing wireless market.

The subscriber base grew from 72.2 mn as on April to 75.3 mn in May - recording an addition of 3.2 mn during the month, latest figures released by cellular association COAI said.

In May, Bharti which has two foreign shareholders --Singtel and Vodafone -- added 1.18 mn new users taking its total subscriber base to 21.86 mn.

State-run BSNL came second in the susbcriber figures with its 18 mn users by adding 0.41 mn new customers with a marketshare of 23.9 per cent and was followed by Hutch.

Hutch added 0.71 mn new subscribers and its total user base touched 16.77 mn. Hutch's marketshare was at 22.3 per cent.

Idea Cellular added 0.42 mn new subscribers and took its user base to 8.06 mn and its marketshare stood at 10.7 per cent. Aircel added 0.41 new subscribers in the month.

Indian mobile call rates are the cheapest in the world -- below Re 1 minute for a local call.

Reliance, which has a minor presence in GSM space, also added 0.15 mn new users and its subscriber base touched 2.16 mn. Spice Telecom has 2.03 mn users with 0.05 mn additions in May.

MTNL added 0.08 mn subscribers and its total subscriber base stood at 2.10 mn. MTNL operates in Delhi and Mumbai.