GSM operators added 7.12 million new subscribers in October, taking the total GSM subscriber base to 625.41 million. This is 1.15 per cent increase from September, when GSM operators added 6.52 million new users.

In October, the growth was led by Uninor which added 2.66 million new users, taking its total user-base to 32.31 million at the end of October, 2011, the data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) today showed.

"We have crossed an important milestone of 30 million subscriptions in October...While we aim to sustain this momentum, our focus also remains on revenues and costs in order to achieve our stated target of EBITDA break-even in 2013. We have some distance to go, but we are moving in the right direction," a Uninor spokesperson said.

Bharti Airtel, the largest GSM player, added 0.94 million users, taking its total subscriber base to 173.73 million. It had a market share of 27.78 per cent.

Vodafone Essar, with a 23.33 per cent market share, added 0.92 million new subscribers during the month, taking its subscriber base to 145.91 million at the end of October 2011.

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is the most popular standard for mobile telephony systems in the world.

The other technology platform on which Indian telcos offer services is CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), where players such as Tata Teleservices (TTSL), RCom and Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL) are the main operators. TTSL and RCom offer both GSM and CDMA services.

SSTL, which offers services under the MTS brand name, registers its number with CDMA lobby AUSPI. In the month of October, MTS added 0.79 million new customers, taking its total user base to 14.06 million.

Other GSM operators like state-owned BSNL and MTNL added 0.51 million and 34,919 new users, respectively, taking their subscriber base to 91.58 million and 5.36 million.

Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular added 1.63 million new users taking its total subscriber base to 101.81 million, while Aircel added 0.48 million customers to take its subscriber base to 60.28 million.

The highest addition in terms of a single circle was in UP (East) where 0.93 million new users were added in October. The circle, among the total 22 circles, also has the highest number of GSM users at 52.05 million.