GSM operators added 7.55 million new subscribers in December, taking the total GSM user base to 639.64 million in the country.
GSM operators had added 6.68 million in November and the GSM subscriber base was at 632.08 million, the data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) showed.
Idea Cellular added the most 2.39 million new subscribers in December taking its subscriber base to 106.38 million. In the previous month, too, the company had led the pack by adding 2.17 million users.
The largest GSM player Bharti added 960,000 subscribers, taking its total to 175.65 million users. The market share of the company dropped marginally to 27.46 per cent in December compared with 27.64 per cent in November.
New telecom player Uninor added 2.12 million new customers during the month compared with 1.86 million in November.
The second largest Vodafone Essar added 900,000 users in December against 920,000 in November last year. The subscriber base of the company stood at 147.74 million in December 2011. Its market share dropped to 23.10 per cent in December from 23.23 per cent in the previous month.
State-owned BSNL and MTNL added 420,000 and 44,664 new users, taking their total to 92.56 million and 5.44 million, respectively. Aircel added 680,000 new customers taking its subscriber base to 61.64 million.
Circle-wise, the highest addition was in Maharashtra where 1.15 million users were added in December. Uttar Pradesh (East) had the highest number of GSM users at 53.88 million.