GSM players add 49.7 lakh users in April: COAI

NEW DELHI: After a two-month gap, India's leading mobile operator Bharti Airtel yet again led GSM subscriber additions in April, followed by No 3 telco, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India, the second largest operator, as the industry ended the month with 726.9 million users, up 0.69% from March, GSM lobby body Cellular Operators Association of India said Tuesday.

Sunil Mittal-founded Bharti Airtel added 1.19 million users, Idea 0.77 million users while Vodafone gained 0.73 million users, COAI said.

Bharti Airtel closed the month with 206.58 million customers, Vodafone India with 167.29 million while Idea's subscriber base grew to 136.55 million subscribers.

Idea Cellular had led GSM subscriber additions in March. Bharti Airtel had last topped GSM subscriber growth this January, adding 2.43 million customers.

Bharti Airtel retains its lead in the national GSM turf with a 28.42% market share, followed by Vodafone (23.01%) and Idea (18.79%).

Maximum subscriber growth happened in UP-East, adding 64.65 million new GSM connections in April, COAI said.