The country?s rural subscriber base stood at 288.89 million in February 2014: COAI

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has released GSM subscriber data for February 2014.

As per the association, the GSM rural subscriber base in the country increased by 1.24 per cent from 285.35 million in January 2014 to 288.89 million in February 2014. In February, GSM operators added 3.45 million new rural subscribers. During the period under consideration, Idea Cellular added maximum number of rural subscribers – 1.95 million.

A six month comparison (from September 2013 to February 2014) highlights that the rural GSM subscriber base has registered steady growth-from 272.66 million to 288.89 million in the period under consideration.

Operator-wise, Bharti Airtel led the pack with 91.40 million rural GSM users. The operator was followed by Vodafone India (88.46 million customers), Idea Cellular (73.20 million subscribers), Aircel (24.88 million customers), and Telewings Communications (10.95 million customers).

For the period under review, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India added 1.95 and 1.03 million rural subscribers, respectively. Aircel and Telewings Communications added 0.24 and 0.32 million rural subscribers each.

Circle-wise, the Uttar Pradesh (East) circle had maximum number of rural GSM subscribers ?29.89 million ? in February 2014.  State-wise too, Uttar Pradesh (East) witnessed the maximum addition of rural subscribers -473,229-in February 2014.