India adds record 10.42 mn mobile users in Oct

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Indian mobile telephone operators signed up a record 10.42 million users in October, the sector regulator said on Tuesday, countering a slowdown in many other sectors of the economy.

Demand has been driven by the availability of cheap handsets of as low as $15 and call rates that start at 1 U.S. cent, making India the world's fastest-growing market for wireless services and the second-largest after China.

The new additions topped the previous record of 10.16 million in March, and compared with 10.07 million signings in September. India had 325.73 million users at the end of October, data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India showed.

China has more than 600 million mobile users.

Leading operator Bharti Airtel added 2.72 million users in October, taking its total subscribers to 80.2 million, the data showed.

Reliance Communications , the No. 2 operator, signed 1.76 million users, swelling its tally to 57.8 million.

Unlisted Vodafone Essar, controlled by Britain's Vodafone Plc , had 56.7 million users at the end of October, 2.1 million more than a month earlier.

Other operators include state-runBharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Idea Cellular Ltd and Tata Teleservices.