The total telecom subscriber base in the country has reached 1.05 billion, with Bharti Airtel leading the GSM subscriber addition for the month of February 2016.
About 9 million subscribers were added during the month. Top operator Bharti Airtel added 2.9 million new users, followed by Vodafone (2.03 million) and Idea Cellular (1.46 million users) in February.
Reliance Communications and Aircel added 1.02 million and 0.62 million subscribers, respectively. State-run telecom service provider, BSNL added 1.25 million subscribers in February. However, Videocon Telecom lost 17,917 subscribers during the period and its base decreased to 67.27 lakh.
S. No. | Name of Operator | Telephone Connections (in Million) | ||||
Wired Line | Wireless | Grand Total | ||||
WLL | GSM | Total | ||||
1 | BSNL | 14.78 | 1.42 | 83.87 | 85.29 | 100.07 |
2 | Bharti Airtel | 3.64 | 248.69 | 248.69 | 252.33 | |
3 | RCom | 1.17 | 77.64 | 24.27 | 101.91 | 103.07 |
4 | Vodafone Essar | 0.04 | 196.75 | 196.75 | 196.79 | |
5 | Tata Indicom | 1.71 | 60.28 | 60.28 | 61.99 | |
6 | Idea | 174.63 | 174.63 | 174.63 | ||
7 | Aircel | 86.68 | 86.68 | 86.68 | ||
8 | MTNL | 3.51 | 0.13 | 3.55 | 3.67 | 7.18 |
9 | Loop Mobile | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | ||
10 | Quadrant Televentures | 0.25 | 3.13 | 3.13 | 3.38 | |
11 | Sistema Shyam | 0.06 | 7.74 | 7.74 | 7.80 | |
12 | Uninor | 51.68 | 51.68 | 51.68 | ||
13 | Videocon | 6.73 | 6.73 | 6.73 | ||
Total | 25.17 | 150.33 | 876.83 | 1,027.17 | 1,052.33 |
Bharti Airtel now has 248.69 million customers, followed by Vodafone at 196.74 million subscribers and Idea at 174.62 million. BSNL was at sixth position and has 85.29 million subscribers behind Reliance Communications and Aircel with 101.91 million and 86.68 million subscribers. respectively.

An IT professional who has got great passion for telecom. Has been closely watching Indian telecom space since 2009.
BSNL is the best, since it gives all India Free Roaming in Mobile segment and Free Night calling from 9pm to 7am to any network, anywhere in India in Landline segment. No operators takes the risk of downsizing its revenue, but government Network has taken the risk and has decrease in revenue. The services are also improving but their Marketing lacks. If BSNL is able to advertise properly then surely it will become No.1 Operator. By just showing the advertisement of Pub (Dog) Vodafone is able to market, Airtel through its effective advertisement catches attraction of students, young and Old,… Read more »
BSNL reported almost 9,000 rupee losses. It is a loss-making PSU. And, at the end of the day, we, the taxpayers, are all paying for it. About time the government privatized it.
Airtel remains the leader ! Proud to be “Airtel Lover ” !