Indian telecoms add 7.8 mln wireless users in Sept

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian telecoms operators added 7.80 million wireless subscribers in September, lifting their user base to more than 209 million, the telecoms regulator said.

Additions for the month were lower than the 8.31 million new users in August and July's 8.06 million.

Wireless phone subscribers in September were 61 percent higher than a year earlier, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in a statement released on Monday night.

India, which added about 44 million wireless users in the six months to September, is the world's fastest growing market for mobile services.

Including fixed-line phones, total telephone subscribers grew 46 percent from a year earlier to 248.7 million, the regulator said.

The regulator expects the total telephone user base will top 500 million by 2010, as just about 22 percent of India's 1.1 billion population currently own a telephone.

Bharti Airtel, which had a mobile subscriber base of 48.9 million at the end of September, is India's top mobile services firm, followed by Reliance Communications Ltd.

Other leading players include Vodafone-controlled Vodafone Essar and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Tata Teleservices Ltd and Idea Cellular.