GSM operators added 7.55 million new subscribers in December, taking the total GSM user

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base to 639.64 million in the country, according to the COAI data released today.

GSM operators had added 6.68 million in November and the GSM subscriber base was at 632.08 million, the data 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 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% in December compared to 27.64% in November.

New telecom player Uninor added 2.12 million new customers during the month compared to 1.86 million in November.

The second largest Vodafone Essar added 900,000 users in December against 920,000 addition 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% in December from 23.23% 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 customers taking its subscriber base to 61.64 million.

Circle-wise, the highest addition was in Maharashtra where 1.15 million new users were added in December. The circle, among the total 22 circles, Uttar Pradesh (East) had the highest number of GSM users at 53.88 million.