India GSM subscriber numbers fall: Angel Research

19th June 2011
India GSM subscriber  numbers fall: Angel Research
Down but not out! Indian cellular market

While we continue to report the rising numbers of mobile phone usage in India in our Snapshot column, there are small glitches in the graph – tracked by the research arm of market watchers Angel Broking.
We bring you highlights and a link to the full study by Srishti Anand and Ankita Somani:
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) reported GSM subscriber data for May 2011, which continued its declining trend in this month as well. It was the lowest since last one and half years -- and weak across all operators (except Bhartiand Vodafone). The net subscriber addition number stood at 9.5mn, down 14.2%mom, taking the total GSM subscriber base to 590.2mn.

All the new operators reported sharp decline in subscriber net addition numbers for May 2011. Uninor, which emerged as a dark horse in April 2011, posted21.2% mom decline in its net subscriber addition by adding only 1.1mnsubscribers, which led to 110bp mom decline in its subscriber markets share to12.0%. Operators like DB Etisalat, Loop Mobile and S Tel reported 60.3%, 29.4%and 9.1% mom decline in their net subscriber addition numbers to 0.1mn,0.01mn and 0.2mn, respectively.

Videocon posted net reduction in its subscriber base by 0.2mn.In May 2011, net subscriber addition stood highest for Bharti at 2.5mn, taking its total subscriber base to 167.1mn, followed by Vodafone and Idea, which added2.4mn and 1.8mn subscribers, taking their total subscriber base to 139.4mn and93.8mn, respectively. BSNL and Aircel, added 0.5mn and 1.1mn subscribers, respectively. The highest net subscriber addition by Bharti and Vodafone increased their net subscriber addition market share significantly to 25.7% (of each of them) from21.7% (of each of them) in April 2011.
Full report ( PDF): http://web.angelbackoffice.com/research/archives/fundamental/company_reports/Telecom-monthly-May%202011-170611.pdf 

June 20 2011