8.58 million GSM users added in June

The Indian telecom sector may be heading for tough times with Indian GSM telecom operators adding less than 10 million subscribers for the second month in a row, bringing in just 8.58 million new subscribers in June.

According to cellular operators' association COAI just 8.58 million new GSM subscribers were added in June, taking the all-India GSM cellular subscriber base to 598.77 million.

In May, GSM operators had added 9.53 million new GSM users, the first time since October 2009, when 10.76 million subscribers were added to the GSM network.

The GSM subscriber base stood at 590.19 million at the end of May, as per data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

This seems like a dismal performance if one looks at the additions in November last year, when the GSM operators had added a whopping 17.16 million new users.

Bharti Airtel, the largest GSM player, added 2.12 million users in June, taking its total subscriber base to 169.18 million. It had a 28.26 per cent market share by the end of the month under review.

Rival Vodafone Essar, with a 23.63 per cent market share, notched up 2.09 million new subscribers during the month. Its subscriber base stood at 141.51 million at the end of June.

Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular added 1.35 million users during the month to take its total user base to 95.10 million, while Aircel added 0.91 million customers taking its subscriber base to 57.98 million.

State-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL added 0.84 million and 1,597 new users, respectively, raising their subscriber base to 88.46 million and 5.23 million, respectively.

The COAI data excluded Reliance Communications for the reporting month. GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is the most popular standard for mobile telephony systems in the world.

The other technology platform on which Indian telcos offer services is CDMA, where players such as Tata Teleservices (TTSL), Reliance Communications and MTS are the main operators. TTSL and Reliance Communications offer both GSM and CDMA services.