Airtel has taken over the place of Vodafone India to regain its position as the largest operator in the rural sector and adding a net of 1.66 million users, while the country’s GSM operators added a net of 3.5 million subscribers in April 2013.
According to data compiled by COAI GSM operators added 3.8 million subscribers from rural India. Of this, Airtel added 1.66 million users, regaining its top slot lost to Vodafone India in April.
On an all India basis, Bharti Airtel added 6,01,252 subscribers in April, while the operator around a million customers in urban areas.
Vodafone India added 1.18 million users, taking a total of 83.42 million rural subscribers during the previous month, Vodafone India had emerged as the largest operator in rural India by a total of 82.24 million users.
In terms of overall subscribers however, Airtel continues to be the leader with 188 million users, Vodafone 153 million and Idea Cellular 122 million.
