Mobile subscribers base in India nearly touching 100 million

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the apex industry association representing the country's major telecom, Internet, technology and digital services companies, recently released the latest telecom subscriber numbers, for the month ending January 2018. As per the data, India's private telecom service providers have a total of 999.33 million subscribers.

Amongst the individual companies, Bharti Airtel Ltd. continues to hold the top position, with 29.50 percent market share, adding another 41,73,908 subscribers during January, to take its total subscriber base to 295.79 million subscribers. Airtel is closely followed by Vodafone India Ltd., which ended January with 217.06 million subscribers. This past month, Idea Cellular had the maximum number of subscriber additions, adding 4.42 million to bring its total subscribers to 202.06 million.

The report, which also provides mobile subscriber numbers for individual circles, showed that the UP (East) circle remained at the top with a total of 86.74million subscribers, while Maharashtra remained at second position with a total of 81.56 million mobile subscribers.

"We are pleased to see growth yet again. For a sector currently burdened with poor financial health and hyper-competition, this is a positive development. Operators are adopting new communication technologies into their product and offering diversified services even beyond voice and data. The industry is constantly working and delivering progress as its contribution to the government's 'Digital India' programme. Consistent growth as seen this month is encouraging, and the industry will continue to ensure that connectivity reaches the farthest corners of the country," said Director General, COAI, Rajan S Mathews.

Mobile connectivity and data services are imperative with the goal to bridge the digital divide in India. With these tools, we can move towards a truly equitable and democratic nation. The telecom industry, therefore, deserves an urgent and immediate intervention to encourage policy and regulatory stability, and facilitate growth, innovation, and investment in the sector in view of the mounting financial debt and debilitating financial health of the industry.

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