India's CDMA user base grows to 14.35 mn in Oct

NEW DELHI: Indian carriers offering mobile services based on code division multiple access (CDMA) technology added 790,738 users in October, raising their total customer base to 14.35 million, their industry body said on Thursday.

The CDMA subscriber base grew 5.8 percent in October, the association, which represents six carriers, said in a statement.

More than 2.9 million customers in total entered the world's fastest growing major mobile market in October as cheap call rates lured more people into the 68.5-million-strong sector.

About 2.48 million entered the market in September.

On Wednesday, the industry body for rival technology GSM reported its highest-ever monthly addition of 2.11 million users, taking the total GSM customer base to 52.98 million.

India's mobile business has boomed as more people use mobile phones due to the sluggish growth of fixed-line services, leading to a rise in foreign investment in the sector.

Wireless services penetration is less than 7 percent in billion-plus India compared with more than 28 percent in neighbouring China, the world's largest mobile services market.

So carriers are expanding throughout the countryside, since less than 30 percent of India is now covered.

India's top mobile services firm, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd., 30.8 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., added 670,000 GSM users in October, its best ever month, taking its customer base to 14.74 million.

Last month, Britain-based Vodafone Group Plc bought 10 percent of Bharti for $1.5 billion.

State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., the second-ranked player, has a GSM user base of 12.51 million customers including about 600,000 subscribers added last month. Third-ranked Reliance had a mobile user base of 11.81 million customers.

Hutchison Essar Telecom Ltd., the Indian unit of Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd., added 410,000 users last month, for a total of 10.16 million.