Press Release:
Highest ever GSM Additions in March 2008
GSM industry signs off Financial Year 2007-08 with a Flourish
COAI is
delighted to report an unprecedented and unparalleled growth in the All India
GSM subscriber base by over 7.6 million during the month of March
2008 the highest
ever subscriber additions since the inception of GSM
service in
With this, the cumulative All India GSM subscriber base has now grown to 192.3
million in March 2008, up from 185.0 million in February 2008, a
growth of about 4% during the month of March 2008.
Mr TV Ramachandran,
Director General, COAI stated that, “the COAI is delighted at the
sustained escalation in the rate of growth of GSM mobile services.”
Mr. Ramachandran attributed this excellent performance
of the GSM industry to “a combination
of factors, including aggressive network expansion, excellent affordability, ample choice of service and continuing customer pull for
GSM”.
He stated that the COAI and the GSM operators were deeply gratified by the
continued support of their customers and took this opportunity to reaffirm
their commitment to their existing and potential customers “to continue
to provide them with world class services and the best value proposition for
their communication needs.”
He also predicted
that the in the month of April, Indian telecom industry will add
another feather to its cap by becoming the second largest wireless network
in the world, after
Among all circles, Category C circles witnessed the highest rate of
growth at nearly 4.5%. Within the
Category C circles, the highest growth was recorded by the
In terms of growth, Category C circles were closely followed by Category
A circles, which recorded a healthy growth of 4.4%
over the previous month.
Category B circles witnessed a growth of 4.0%. Amongst the
Category B circles, U.P. (West) recorded highest growth at 4.7%
followed by Rajasthan at 4.0%.
The subscribers in Metro grew by 2.4% over the previous
month, with Chennai recording the highest growth at 2.8% followed
by Kolkata at 2.7%.
