MUMBAI: Witnessing a healthy growth in telecom penetration, the GSM subscriber base in the country grew to 801.81 million in November 2016. COAI, the association of mobile telephony service providers in the country, which released the November GSM subscriber base numbers, has said the number of GSM subscribers witnessed a jump of 10.18 million as compared to the previous month.

Telecom industry’s steady growth was recorded in net subscriber additions from 2.09 million in August to 10.18 million in November.

Amongst the telecom companies, Bharti Airtel continued to hold on to the pole position in November, adding another 1.08 million additional subscribers during the month to take its total subscriber base to 263.35 million mobile subscribers. Closely followed by Vodafone with 202.79 million subscribers and Idea Cellular with 187.68 million subscribers. With 32.84%, Bharti Airtel owns the maximum market share in the industry.

The report, which also assesses the growth of mobile subscribers across various circles in India said, UP East added the maximum number of subscribers (73.82 million) in November and Idea added the maximum number of subscribers (7.43 million) in November.

Talking about the growth in the subscriber base, COAI director-general Rajan S Mathews said, “The telecommunication industry has again posted a good growth for the month of November 2016. It is heartening to see that the industry is showing signs of a robust growth and we have again moved ahead in ensuring complete connectivity at all levels. Telecom companies have been contributing towards fulfilling the government’s vision of Digital India since beginning and we will continue bridge the digital divide for a fully connected and digitally empowered India.”

Speaking about the impact made by the telecom industry, he added, “We are an enabler of comprehensive growth. The industry has also ensured that the government’s plans reach even the farthest corners of the country and everyone is equally benefitted from the digital revolution.”