Indian GSM telecom operators added 9.53mn new subscribers in May, lifting the all-India cellular subscriber base above 590mn, data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) showed on Monday.
This is the lowest level of subscriber addition since October 2009, when 10.76mn new users were added to the GSM network.
With this, the total customers using the GSM mobile service in India have jumped to 590.20mn from 580.67mn in April, COAI said.
Bharti Airtel added 2.45mn new users in May as opposed to 2.41mn in April, taking its total subscriber base to 167.07mn. The market share for Bharti Airtel stood at 28.31% as on May 31.
Vodafone Essar added 2.45mn new subscribers during the month under review compared to 2.41mn in the previous month, taking its total subscriber base to 139.43mn at the end of May. Vodafone Essar's market share was at 23.62%.
Idea Cellular added 1.80mn new users during May, taking its total user base to 93.75mn, while Aircel added 1.11mn new customers, boosting its subscriber base to 57.06mn, COAI said.
Meanwhile, BSNL and Uninor added 0.47mn and 1.14mn new users, respectively, taking their subscriber base to 87.62mn and 25.39mn, respectively.
While Idea has a market share of 15.89%, BSNL's market share has dipped below 15% at 14.85%. Aircel holds a share of 9.67% in India's GSM cellular market. Uninor, a new entrant, has a market share of 4.30%.
The COAI data excludes Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Tata Teleservices.
RCOM and Tata Teleservices offer both GSM and CDMA services.