Wireless subscriber base reached 617 mn in May

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said that the wireless subscriber base increased from 601.22 million in April to 617.53 million at the end of May, registering a growth of 2.71 per cent. Wireless teledensity stood at 52.30 per cent at the end of May.
Of all operators, Bharti Airtel garnered the maximum net additions at three million new subscribers, followed by Vodafone at 2.6 million, Reliance Communications with 2.8 million, Tata Teleservices at 2.4 million, Aircel at 1.6 million and Idea at 1.4 million new subscribers. State owned BSNL and MTNL had one million and 39,000 new subscribers, respectively.
Amongst the circles A, B, C and the metros, circle B added the maximum number of wireless subscribers at 6.3 million, circle A added 5.3 million subscribers while circle C and the metros added 2.5 million and 2.2 million subscribers, respectively.
The wireline subscriber base declined from 36.83 million in April to 36.39 million at the end of May. Overall wireline teledensity stood at 3.08 per cent at the end of May.
According to TRAI, circle A consists of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Maharashtra and Goa. Circle B comprises Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), West Bengal, Sikkim and Lakshadweep. Circle C comprises Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Assam, the North East, Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. The metros are Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.