By IANS
New Delhi : India added 5.95 million new subscribers in the GSM mobile telephony segment in August, with their total number touching 147.7 million, said an industry body here Thursday.
Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest mobile service operator, added 2.05 million new users, taking up their total number of subscribers to 46.81 million as on August 31 and reaching a market share of 31.70 percent, Cellular Association of India (COAI) said in a release.
Vodafone-Essar, formerly Hutch-Essar, followed second with 1.67 new subscribers and a total subscriber base of 34.11 million, thereby grabbing a market share of 23.10 percent, an increase of 5.17 percent.
State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) retained the third position, adding 725,392 new users, and reaching a total subscriber base of 29.70 million. The firm, which recently announced mega expansion plans, also reported a market share of 20.11 percent, an increase of 2.50 percent.
Birla Group’s Idea Cellular reported 866,629 additions, pulling up its total number of users to 1.78 million and a market share of 12.10 percent.
Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Communications, primarily a CDMA player, reported total subscriber base of 4.34 million users with 2.94 percent market share. It did not announce its monthly additions.