Continuing its upward journey, the Indian telecom industry posted another month of growth by adding 8.18 million mobile subscribers in the mobile telephony market in December 2016.
In the data released by COAI, the association of mobile telephony service providers in the country, the number of mobile phone subscribers grew to a total increase of 809.99 million in December. It is noteworthy here that from the month of August 2016, the net subscriber base has gone up from 2.09 million to 8.18 million in December.
“Growth of the telecom industry correlate with the overall growth in the country as telecommunication services are the backbone of the economy. Despite immense financial strain on the industry, the industry has still added the numbers in December 2016. These figures also represent the increasing footprint of the mobile industry and the number of lives touched by it in a positive manner,” said Director General, COAI, Mr. Rajan S Mathews.
Amongst the telecom companies, Bharti Airtel continued to hold on to the pole position in December, adding another 2.50 million additional subscribers during the month to take its total subscriber base to 265.85 million mobile subscribers. Closely followed by Vodafone with 204.69 million subscribers and Idea Cellular with 190.52 million subscribers. With 32.82%, Bharti Airtel continues to own the maximum market share in the industry.
The report, which also assesses the growth of mobile subscribers across various circles in India, said UP East added the maximum number of subscribers (74.90 million) in December and Idea added the maximum number of subscribers (2.83 million) in December.
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“The continuous growth is a testament to the importance which the citizen accord to the mobile services which have today emerged as an essential part of our daily lives. It also goes on to show that the telecommunication industry which recently crossed the one billion mark in India, is a great story to tell and the Industry has much to celebrate as it continues to deepen reach and facilitate access for new users across the country,” added Mr. Mathews.
