GSM customer base up 3.71% to 159 mln

New Delhi, Nov 14 (UNI) The Indian GSM-based cellular phone sector industry added 5.71 million users in October 2007 with the subscriber base touching 159.70 and Bharti Airtel retaining its top slot with a market share of 31.88 per cent.

Driven by aggressive network expansions by the operators, coupled with decreasing tariffs and increasing affordability, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said in a statement that that compared to the subscriber base of 153.9 million recorded in September 2007, the GSM subscriber base has increased by 3.71 per cent.

Bharti Airtel has 50.9 million subscribers while Vodafone-Essar has 37.1 million subscriber and a market share of 23.28 per cent.

BSNL had 31.03 million users, with a market share of 19.43 per cent.

Bharti Airtel's subscribers increased by 4.29 per cent with the addition of 2.03 million cutomers and Vodafone-Essar by 4.16 per cent and an addition of 1.5 million cutomers.

UNI