GSM subscriber base of the country has grown to 9.3 million (excluding Reliance Telecom) in Jan’09. According to a recent data, the total GSM subscriber base in the country rose to 267.54 million up from 257.85 million in December 2008, a growth of about 3.6% during the month of January.
Bharti Airtel, leads the chart as its subscriber base grows to 88.38 million, added 2.73 million subscribers in January and captures 33.04% market share. Vodafone-Essar has added about 2.4 million subscribers and its subscriber base totals to 63.34 million by the end of January. The company maintained a market share of 23.68%.

The state-owned telco BSNL market share dropped from 16.05% in December, 2008 to 15.95% in January, 2009. The company’s subscriber base totals to 42.67 million, added around 1.3 million subscribers to its total. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) subscribers have crossed the mark of 4 million, added over 1 lakh subscribers to its total. However, Idea Cellular (along with Spice Communications) posted a rise of 5.27% in it subscriber base in comparison to last month. The incumbent subscriber base totals to 40 million with the addition of 2 million subscribers during the month.

Source: Wireless Federation.