Bharti Airtel leads the rural market with 83.82 million subscribers: COAI

According to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), Bharti Airtel led the rural telecom market with a subscriber base of 83.82 million, in end-April 2013.

In the period under consideration, the operator added about 1.66 million users and displaced Vodafone India as the leading operator in the rural market. In comparison, for the same period, Vodafone India added 1.18 million new users and its total rural subscriber base stood at 83.42 million.

As per COAI data, in March 2013, Vodafone India was at the top of the pecking order in rural markets, with a subscriber base of 82.24 million. It had replaced Bharti Airtel, which had a subscriber base of 82.16 million as of March 31, 2013.

As of April 30, 2013, operators like Idea Cellular and Aircel ranked third and fourth in the rural areas with subscriber bases of 66.64 million and 22.47 million, respectively. Uninor had a subscriber base of 10.07 million.