Uninor, Idea add customers despite SC's order

NEW DELHI, INDIA: India's GSM mobile phone base grew with an addition of 8.77 million connections in February 2011 to have total of 656.86 million users with smaller operators adding customers despite the Supreme Court's order to cancel their licences.

Data furnished by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) Wednesday showed that Uninor, a joint venture between Noway-based Telenor and Unitech added 2.34 million users in the month taking its total user base to 41.14 million.

Videocon which also stands to lose its licences added 0.34 million subscribers and reported a user base of 6.19 million.

Incumbents such as Idea Cellular also added 2.58 million users during the month in order to have a total of 110.70 million subscribers.

Bharti Airtel added 1.82 million users during the month to take its subscriber base to 178.77 million. The operator had a market share of 27.22 percent.

However Vodafone added merely 0.83 million new subscribers to have a total of 149.44 million subscribers. While Aircel added 0.79 million users taking its subscriber base to 63.25 million.

The Supreme Court last month ordered cancellation of 122 licences issued in 2008 affecting firms such as Uninor, Videocon, Idea Cellular and MTS.