Mobile phone firms add 16.3 m users in May

Mobile phone firms in India added 16.3 million new users in May taking the total wireless user base to 617.5 million as per figures released by sector regulator Trai . The industry added about 16.9 million users in April. Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom company by customers and revenues, added 3 million new customers in May, the highest in the industry. This operator added the same number of users in April. Bharti Airtel now has a user base of 133.6 million. Bharti Airtel was followed by Reliance Communications, which added 2.8 million new users in the month, lower than 2.7 million it added in April. The operator’s user base now stands at 107.9 million. Vodafone Essar, which added about 2.8 million new users in April, dropped down to the third position with 2.5 million new additions in May. Vodafone Essar’s total user base now stands at 106.3 million. Dual technology mobile service provider Tata Teleservices added 2.3 million users in May, higher than 1.9 million it added in April, taking its total user base to 70.2 million. Gurgaon-based Aircel and Idea Cellular recorded a flat growth in the month compared with April.