According to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), telecom operators added 13.35 million mobile subscribers in May 2011, taking the total number of telephone users in the country to 874.68 million.
The mobile subscriber base increased to 840.28 million at the end of May from 826.93 million in the preceding month, registering a growth of 1.61 per cent. With this, the overall teledensity reached 70.23 per cent.
The number of active mobile subscribers, according to the visitor location register (VLR) data, during May 2011 was 588.13 million.
Growth in the wireless category was led by Reliance Communications, which added 2.50 million users, taking its subscriber base to 141.16 million at the end of May 2011. Bharti Airtel added 2.45 million subscribers, taking its user base to 167.06 million. Vodafone added 2.44 million new customers to take its user base to 139.42 million.
Idea Cellular and Aircel added 1.80 million and 1.11 million users respectively, during this period. Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) added 0.39 million users in May. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) added 0.82 million and 27,952 new subscribers in May.
The wireline subscriber base declined to 34.40 million at the end of May from 34.55 million in April. Broadband users reached 12.12 million in May, from 12.01 million in April, growing by 0.92 per cent.
