GSM Shows A Marginal Dip In August Subscriptions

After a brief pick up in the GSM subscribers in the month of July, August showed just a marginal dip over the previous months. Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) data shows that the total GSM subscriber base in August increased by 9.31 million taking it to 335.45 million. The total net additions in July stood at 9.47 millions. The figures don’t include the data of Reliance Communication as company releases its data separately in its quarterly reports.

The growth has dipped marginally from August, but this dip is quite negligible and hence can be taken as satisfactory considering the Volume of Indian telecom Industry and the previous Track Record. Industry hopes to revive this rate and achieve the record increase it achieved in March. Lots of new tariff schemes are being introduced in order to achieve the benchmark. The breakup by Company and Market share is:

Bharti continues to be the undisputed Market leader with addition of 2.82 million new customers, putting its tally at whooping 107.9 million with a market share of 32.16%. Bharti’s subscriber base is compareable with the whole CDMA segment. CDMA subscriber base crossed 100 million in the Q2 ending June, having a quarterly growth rate of about 6%. With the two major players in CDMA market, Reliance and Tata releasing their figures quarterly, this data can only be verified by the end of next month.

Next comes Vodafone, with 2.19 million new subscribers and a total base of 80.87 Million with market share of 24.11%. Idea crossed the magic figure of 50 million customers by adding 1.54 million new subscribers. Idea is now in a striking distance of the national service provider BSNL. BSNL had a subdued growth with 1.36 million new users putting it at 52.05 million with 15.5% market share.

Figures of Reliance Communication cannot be included because of the company policy, still with its monopoly in CDMA circuit and about 13 million GSM customers, Reliance can easily be pegged as the second biggest telecom service provider in the country. Other smaller players like Aircel and Loop showed marginal but significant growth taking their market share to 7.28% and approximately .72% respectively. They will definitely grow big in near future due to their attractive tariff plans. Other public sector operator MTNL was stagnant and no significant change(20,000) in its kitty was observed.

Overall the growth rate seemed steady in terms of absolute figures but dipping even after signs of strong recovery in the Indian economy is a matter of concern. As earlier speculated by WATblog, the market doesn’t seemed to be picking. But the hopes are still on and telecom sector may soon surge up with number of new players coming up. Also, MNP and 3G will surely boost up the industry and a very strong comeback with a healthy revival is definitely on the cards. Next month’s report will make the picture more clear.