GSM Operators Add Record 7.7m Users In September
No doubt aided by declining prices of mobile phone handsets, the GSM wireless operators are estimated to have added 7.7 million subscribers in September — the highest ever net addition in a month, surpassing the 7.6 million in March this year.
According to the latest data released by the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI), GSM operators in the country, excluding Reliance Telecom (the GSM arm of Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s Reliance Communications), added 7.3 million subscribers last month to take the total to 233.3 million.
Bharti Airtel retained the top rank with a market share of 33.21 per cent and a total user base of 77.48 million. The company added 2.7 million users in September, an increase of 3.61 per cent over its 74.78 million users reported in the previous month.
Vodafone-Essar added 1.87 million and maintained a market share of 23.41 per cent. The company’s total subscriber base in the month stood at 54.62 million.
BSNL’s fell from 17.06 per cent in August to 16.79 per cent in September as it added 676,000 users, taking its total to over 39 million. The market share of MTNL declined to 1.58 per cent from 1.61 per cent in August.
Aditya Birla Group’s Idea Cellular added 1.1 million users in September to take its total to 30.38 million. [Via]
However, even as subscribers and quality of service increase, the competition among the operators is leading to a decrease in their ARPUs. According to the latest quarterly data issued by Trai, monthly ARPU for GSM operators declined 9.8% from Rs 264 in March 2008 to Rs 239 in June 2008. ARPU for CDMA operators dropped 12.6% from Rs 159 to Rs 139 during the period.
Post-paid customers accounted for a lesser erosion in ARPU than pre-paid customers. ARPU for post-paid service declined 5.9% from Rs 638 in March 2008 to Rs 600 in June 2008, while ARPU for pre-paid service declined 8.9% from Rs 224 to Rs 204.
Hopefully, the much awaited 3G services will help to boost up the revenues.
Related posts:
- GSM Subscribers Rise By 8.59 Mln In September
- India Adds 8.89 Million GSM Subscribers In June
- Record Number Of Telecom Subscribers Added In October
- GSM Subscribers Up 8.1 Mln In Dec 08, Now 257.85 Mln
- Despite Slowdown, GSM Subscribers Numbers Rise
Filed under: Mobile, Statistics
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