India Mobile Subs Soar in 2006

India's mobile operators added 6.2 million new subscribers in December, capping a year of rapid expansion that saw the country become the fastest growing telecom market in the world.According to the latest figures from the Cellular Operators Association of India, the country's nine GSM-based carriers added 47 million subscribers in 2006, almost doubling their subscriber base to 105.4 million in December 2006 from 58.5 million in December 2005.

The Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) , which collates figures from the four CDMA-based operators, reports 25 million new subscribers were added during the year. The CDMA customer base tripled from 12 million at the end of December 2005 to 36.7 million last month. India has been reporting higher monthly additions than China, previously the world’s fastest growing mobile market, since August, although its 142.1 million subscribers are still a long way off from China's 500 million-plus users.

Source: Unstrung.com