The Cellular Operators of India (COAI) on Saturday said the country has added nearly six million GSM mobile subscribers last month, representing an overall growth of 4.1 per cent, lifting the total base from 130.8 million in May to 136 million in June.
It may be noted here that category B witnessed the highest rate of growth at almost five per cent among all the telecom circles.
Within the B circle, the highest growth was recorded by Uttar Pradesh (West) circle at 6.5 per cent, closely followed by West Bengal and the Andaman & Nicobar circle at 6.1 per cent.
In terms of growth, category B circle was closely followed by category A circle, which recorded a healthy growth of 4.1 per cent over the previous month. Tamil Nadu recorded the highest growth at 5.3 per cent followed by Maharashtra at 4.4 per cent. Category C circle witnessed a growth of 3.2 per cent. Within the Category C circle, Orissa recorded highest growth at 5.4 per cent followed by Himachal Pradesh at 3.9 per cent. The subscribers in metro grew by 3.1 per cent over the previous month. Kolkata recorded the highest growth at 4.1 per cent followed by Chennai at 3.6 per cent, COAI added in a statement.
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“GSM service providers are rapidly enhancing coverage and reach of service which is getting reflected in the healthy subscriber growth,” COAI Director General, T V Ramachandra. State run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) continued to lose market share in June while Bharti Airtel retained its top slot in GSM based mobile subscriber base.