GSM subscriber base grows 3.6% to 178.4 million

New Delhi, Feb 11 (UNI) The country's GSM subscriber base grew 3.60 per cent to 178.4 million users, adding 61.95 lakh customers in January 2008, said Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

Bharti Airtel added 22.5 lakh customers last month compared to 22 lakh customers in December. Idea saw an addition of 9 lakh customers in January compared to eight lakh in December.

Spice Telecom added 1.42 lakh customers to its subscriber base in January compared to 1.39 lakh in December.

MTNL, however, saw growth slowen as it added 58,000 customers in January from 65,000 customers in December.

The metros saw customers growing by 2.40 per cent to 28.8 million in January 2008 from 28.1 million in December.

The 'A Circle' consisting of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu saw increase in subscriber base by 4.09 per cent to 65 million last month compared to 62.4 million in December 2007.

With a growth rate of 3.5 per cent, the 'B Circle' of Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajastahan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar saw the GSM customers 64.7 million in January from 62.5 million in December.

The states in 'C Circle' comprising of Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, the rest of North eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir saw a growth of 4.05 per cent to 19.7 million in January from 19 million in December.

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