Hutch closes in on BSNL’s No 2 spot

Posted on | May 13, 2007 |

GSM mobile operators added 4.13 million new subscribers in the month of April, as against addition of 6.13 million users in March. The total number of GSM subscribers is at 125.57 million, up from 121.43 million in March, showing a growth of 3.4 per cent aginst the previous month’s 5.32 per cent.

The April GSM data also points out that Hutch Essar (Vodafone Essar) subscriber base has moved extremely close to that of BSNL in April. While the traditional GSM number two, BSNL, has a base of 27.74 million, Hutch Essar shows up as a close third at 27.70 million. In the previous month, BSNL had 27.42 million GSM users, against Hutch Essar’s 26.44 million.

The dip in GSM mobile growth is being attributed to the poor show by state-owned BSNL and MTNL during April.

BSNL has added only 0.3 million GSM users during April, showing a growth of just 1.19% over the previous month. This is a contrast to BSNL’s 1.98 million addition in March registering a 7.8% growth. MTNL user base has dropped by 0.2% in April, showing a decline of 9.58%. In March, MTNL base had risen by 0.16 million, with a growth of 6.5%.

According to industry insiders, in the last month of the financial year (March), the subscriber figures usually go up quite dramatically because companies want to meet targets. The BSNL growth in March displayed that trend, they added.

Bharti = 1.75 million new users, 38.89 million total, 30.97% market share
BSNL = 0.32 million new users, 27.74 million total, 22.10% market share
Hutch Essar = 1.26 million new users, 27.70 million total, 22.06% market share
Idea = 0.55 million new users, 14.5 million total, 11.60% market share

As of end of March 2007, the total number of mobile subscribers (GSM and CDMA) were 166.05 million. The total phone subscriber base was at 206.83 million as of end of March, including fixed line users.

Source: DNA

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