Date:12/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/04/12/stories/2007041205200400.htm

Back GSM user base up 6.1 m in March

Our Bureau

New Delhi April 11 the GSM-based cellular user base has increased by a whopping 6.13 million new mobile users in the month of March. This is the highest ever month-on-month addition. With this the overall GSM subscriber base has touched the 121 million mark.

The increase in the user base is surprising considering that about 8-10 million subscribers have been disconnected by the operators over the past few months due to lack of proper documentation.

Mr Ramachandran, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India said, "Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI) is delighted at the pace of subscriber growth, which has been primarily driven by the ever increasing subscriber demand for the GSM service."

Mr Ramachandran stated that the spurt in subscriber additions and the overall growth in mobile subscribers during the financial year ending March 2007 has been possible due to industry initiatives, forward-looking policies of the ministry and the enabling regulation.

Subscribers touch 121 m

The GSM mobile subscriber base has increased from 69 million in March 2006 to 121 million in March 2007. During the month of March, category C circles continued to witness the highest rate of growth at 8.7 per cent, followed by Category B circles at 6 per cent.

Amongst the Category B circles, Rajasthan recorded the highest growth at 11.13 per cent, followed by Uttar Pradesh (E) at 6.74 per cent. Amongst Category A circles, Karnataka recorded the highest growth at 5.82 per cent followed by Tamil Nadu at 5.77 per cent.

The Metro subscribers grew by 3 per cent in the month of March 2007. Chennai recorded the highest growth at 4.8 per cent followed by Kolkata at 3.5 per cent.