India's GSM players add 11.18 mn users in April

NEW DELHI, INDIA: India’s GSM operators, excluding Reliance Communications, added 11.18 million mobile users in April, expanding the subscriber base to 433 million, showed data from Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

Bharti Airtel, India's top mobile operator, signed up 3 million mobile users in April, taking its total to 130.6 million, the data indicated.

COAI data also showed that Vodafone's Indian unit gained 2.9 million new users in April to have a total of 103.8 million.

Operators in India, the world's fastest-growing mobile market, recorded their highest-ever additions of 20.3 million in March. New users have signed up at a monthly average of 16 million over 12 months to March.

Fifteen mobile firms operate in India. The sector regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), will later release April's subscriber data for each firm and total sign-ups.

According to COAI's April data, sixth-ranked Idea Cellular added 1.5 million users to reach 65.3 million while Aircel, ranked No. 7 and majority-owned by Malaysia's Maxis Communications, added 1.6 million to 38.5 million subscribers.

Telenor's India unit, which started operations in December, gained 757,615 users in April to cross 5 million total users.