GSM-based service providers have added more than 44 lakh new customers, increasing their subscriber base to 67.88 crore in September 2013, says the new data released by the industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).
According to the COAI, subscriber base had risen by 0.65 percent from the previous month. Idea Cellular and Vodafone both added 1.21 million subscribers in September 2013, while Bharti Airtel added 1.16 million new users. State-run telecom operator BSNL failed to add any new subscriber, while subscriber base of MTNL further slipped.
Maximum number of new subscribers, 59.31 million, were added from UP East circle.
Overall, Bharti Airtel leads the industry with over 193 million subscribers as of September 2013. Vodafone is at the second position with 156 million subscribers followed by Idea Cellular 127 million subscribers. BSNL has 97 million subscribers while MTNL has 4 million users in the country.
The data does not include numbers of Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices.
Source: COAI