GSM user base crosses six million mark for March 2007

The country's GSM-based mobile telephone operators added a record 6.1mn new subscribers in March, taking their total user base to 121.4mn, data released by the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) shows.

At the end of February, total GSM customers stood at 115.3mn.

The March increase was the highest-ever monthly rise and was higher than the 4.9mn new user additions in February, the body representing the GSM service providers said in a statement released late on Wednesday.

Bharti Airtel added 1.7mn customers in March, taking its total to 37.14mn. BSNL added 1.98mn new users, taking its user base to 27.43mn. Hutchison Essar added 1.1mn new customers, taking its total to 26.44mn.

Idea Cellular added only 370,551 subscribers in March as against 568,051 mobile phone users added in February, boosting its user base to 14.01mn. MTNL added 167,992 mobile phone users to take its subscriber base at the end of March to 2.75mn.