BSNL fails to improve customer numbers in Nov

BANGALORE, INDIA: The number of GSM subscribers continue to be on a decline in India for third consecutive month.

New figures revealed by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), highlights that GSM operators lost more than 9 million subscribers in November, bringing the subscribers base down to 663.78 million.

There were 672.80 million GSM subscribers by the end of October, 2012

TRAI also stated that the decline was mostly due to the large scale disconnection by some of the service providers.

As per COAI figures, Bharti Airtel lost 2.80 million subscribers to take its subscriber base to 183.61 million. Vodafone's user base slumped to 2.38 million, while Idea Cellular lost 1.56 million users. Aircel lost 1.46 million users in November with its user base slumping to 65.32 million at the end of November. Uninor lost 4,37,915 users, while Videocon lost 3,79,787 subscribers in November.

The COAI data reveal the state-run operator BSNL could not add a single subscriber in the said month, and its user base stood at 97.17 million subscribers (14.64 percent share). MTNL's user base slumped to 5.12 million at the end of November 2012, losing 741 users.

GSM operators have continued to lose subscribers over the past few months. One of the reasons for the slump is believed to be de-activations of inactive SIMs. Operators have been disconnecting the numbers inactive for 60 days.

COAI data, however, does not include stats from operators such as Reliance, Tata and MTS.

According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), India's telecom subscriber base registered a 2.5 million slump, at the month of October 2012. By October, the subscriber base stood 935.18 million, as against 937.70 million at the end of the month of September 2012.

"The number of telephone subscribers in India decreased to 935.18 million at the end of October, 2012 from 937.70 million at the end of September 2012, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of - 0.27%," said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), in a statement. TRAI also stated that the decline was mostly due to the "large scale disconnection by some of the service providers".