India’s mobile subscriber base (GSM and CDMA) decreased from 908.36 million in August 2012 to 906.62 million at the end of September 2012, registering a monthly negative growth of -0.19%.  Aircel and BSNL emerged as market leaders in new subscribers addition during the month amid the declining trend of mobile subscriber base of all GSM biggies like Airtel Vodafone and Idea.

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This the th 3rd consecutive month where as decline registered in Wireless  (GSM and CDMA mobile) subscriber base of country and it is due to large scale disconnections of non-active subscribers by many operators.

According to TRAI, the biggest loss in user base came from Bharti Airtel and followed by all GSM Biggies – Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and CDMA operators Tata Docomo and MTS India. 

Bharti Airtel lost 9,816,21 Idea Cellular and Vodafone India  each lost 3,25,818 and 6,86,183 subscribers in September 2012. Aircel  and BSNL leading in the new subscriber additions. Aircel added 655,000 customers followed by BSNL which has added 3,93,016 new subscribers in September 2012.

Tata Docomo (GSM and CDMA) also lost over 2,76,238 customers, While Reliance Communications (Rcom) and Reliance Telecom (GSM and CDMA) has added over 2,13,444 users and Pure CDMA operators MTS India losses over 2,49,162 customers. National telecom back bone Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) added 3,93,016 GSM subscribers which is 2nd highest additions in the month of September  2012.

Mr.R K. Upadhyay, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) said “I am unable to recall if BSNL ever lead market in terms of new subscriber additions.

Active Mobile Subscribers : Out of the total 906.62 million mobile subscribers,  only 698.96 million were active on the date of Peak VLR for the month of September 2012. The proportion of VLR subscribers is approximately 77.10% of the total wireless subscriber base reported by the service providers to TRAI.

Circle-wise Active Mobile Users : Circle-wise, Maharashtra has the highest proportion of VLR subscribers with 84.71% followed by J&K (84.55%) and Madhya Pradesh (81.99%); Tamil Nadu (including Chennai) has the lowest proportion with 68.58% in September 2012. 

Service Provider wise Active Mobile Users : Idea Cellular leads the tally with 94.46% followed by Bharti Airtel (91.83%) in September 2012.

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