Reliance Communications added a whopping ~5mn subscribers in Jan-09. But the rate of growth certainly looks unsustainable as it could add mere 3.38 mn subscribers [GSM + CDMA] in Feb-09. Even after taking into account Feb as a month with 3 short days, compared to Jan, RCom couldn’t maintain the subscribers growth rate. In Jan-09, it added around 1.25mn CDMA and 3.75mn GSM, so taking similar proportion, RCom added just 2.5 mn GSM subscribers in Feb-09, a drop of 33% compared to Jan.
There is no reason for GSM incumbents to cheer yet. I did a reality check with some vendors of Reliance Mobile [GSM] and found that the company’s backend is unable to process the new applications from vendors and distributors, eventually leading the phones to be disconnected due to subscriber non-verification and other compliance issues. 4 of the 5 respondents seemed to be happy with the quality of the GSM network in Karnataka.
So at the end of Feb-08, GSM Wireless Subscriber base is 280 mn. Bharti Airtel leads the GSM pack with 93 mn subscribers across India.
In some Circles, price of SIM have gone up from Rs 25 to Rs 99 and also Free Minutes reduced.
Most importantly, the trick of qualifying for additional spectrum based on subscriber numbers has worked where it was necessary 🙂 [Likely to apply for it within the next 3 months]