TABLE-India adds record 16.7 mln mobile users in Oct

NEW DELHI, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Indian mobile operators
signed up a record 16.67 million users in October taking the
total number of subscribers to 488.40 million, data from the
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India showed.

The users additions for October are the highest since March
when firms had added 15.64 million users. In 2009, the
country's mobile subscriber base has increased at an average of
about 14 million users a month.

Sixth-ranked operator Tata Teleservices [TATASL.UL], 26
percent owned by Japan's NTT DoCoMo (9437.T: Quote, Profile, Research), led the additions
for the third month in a row after adding 3.9 million users in
October.

Following are the additions by mobile operators and their
total subscriber base.
LEADING COMPANIES:
COMPANY ADDITIONS (MLN) TOTAL USERS (MLN)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) 2.70 113.21
Reliance Comm (RLCM.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) 2.10 88.21
Vodafone Essar (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research) 2.98 85.83
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd 0.68 59.43
Idea Cellular (IDEA.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) 1.90 53.35
Tata Teleservices 3.87 50.66
Aircel 2.02 27.75
SMALLER PLAYERS:
COMPANY ADDITIONS TOTAL USERS
(MLN)
--------------------------------------------------------------
MTNL (MTNL.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) (MTE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 58,210 4.74
Loop Telecom 50,064 2.55
Sistema Shyam Teleservices 335,842 2.30
HFCL Infotel -13,603 0.37
--------------------------------------------------------------

Note: Wireless tele-density, that is mobile connections per
every 100 people, was at 41.69 at the end of October, the
regulator said.

Wireline subscriber base declined to 37.25 million in
October from 37.31 million in September.

Including fixed-line phones, India had 525.65 million phones
at the end of October, or tele-density of 44.87.
(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy and Bharghavi Nagaraju)
((bharghavi.nagaraju@thomsonreuters.com; +91 22 6636 9059;
Reuters Messaging:
bharghavi.nagaraju.reuters.com@reuters.net))
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