17 million mobile users added in July: TRAI

Telecom operators in the country added 17 million subscribers in July this year, taking the total number of mobile users in the country to 652.42 million, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said today.

According to data released by the telecom regulator, the wireless subscriber base increased from 635.51 million in June to 652.42 million by the end of July, 2010, registering a growth of 2.66 per cent.

However, the total number of telephone subscribers (both mobile and landline) in India increased to 688.38 million by the end of July from 671.69 million in June.

With this, the overall teledensity (telephones per 100 people) in India touched 58.17 per cent.

The growth in the wireless category was led by Bharti Airtel, which added 2.6 million users to take its subscriber base to 139.2 million users. Airtel was followed by Reliance Communications, which added 2.5 million new subscribers in July, taking its subscriber base to 113.3 million.

Vodafone added 2.4 million subscribers in July, 2010, taking its user base to 111.4 million. Idea Cellular and Aircel added 1.8 million and 1.6 million new users, respectively. Tata Teleservices added 2.3 million users in July, 2010.

State—run telcos BSNL and MTNL added 1.08 million and 44,909 new users, respectively, during the month.

The wireline subscriber base declined from 36.18 million in June to 35.96 million by July-end, it said. State-run firms BSNL and MTNL enjoy an 84 per cent share of the wireline market.

The total broadband subscriber base in India increased by 3.39 per cent from 9.45 million in June to 9.77 million in July, 2010, the data showed.