Wireless telecoms operators added a record 8.06 million subscribers in July, lifting the user base to nearly 193 million, according to data from TRAI.
Wireless phone subscribers in July were 64 percent higher than a year earlier, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said. India, which has added about 28 million wireless users in four months to July, is the world’s fastest growing market for mobile services.
Analysts forecast the wireless user base will top 500 million in five years, as just over 20 percent of India’s 1.1 billion population own a telephone. Nokia the world’s top cellphone maker, said earlier this week India had overtaken the United States to become its second-largest market by sales after China. Including fixed-line phones, total telephone subscribers grew 47 percent from a year earlier to 232.9 million, the regulator said.
Bharti Airtel, which had a mobile subscriber base of 44.8 million at the end of July, is India’s top mobile services firm, followed by Reliance Communications Ltd. Other leading players include Vodafone controlled Vodafone Essar and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
Source: TRAI
![View Sidhartha Bezbora (sidhartha[at]bezbora.com)'s profile on LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/img/webpromo/btn_viewmy_120x33.gif){kind=small}
