| KOLKATA: GSM operators added a modest 0.4 million customers in January 2013, managing to arrest a precipitous slide triggered by 16.6 million customer losses in November-December 2012, as India's leading mobile phone companies managed to notch up net-additions amidst fewer deactivations and reduced churn. The pan-India GSM subscriber base last month stood at 657.56 million, a tiny 0.06% rise over the December 2012 level. The country's top three GSM operators — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular who collectively account for nearly 67% of the sector's revenues — jointly added a shade over 4.96 million subscribers last month, according to latest customer numbers released on Friday by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry lobby representing GSM operators . Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone added 2.28 million, 2.45 million and 0.22 million customers , respectively, last month, which resulted in all three companies marginally increasing market share from December 2012 levels. But Aircel, Uninor and Videocon jointly lost 4.55 million customers in January, which saw all three telcos lose market share compared to last December levels. A closer look at COAI data saw Aircel losing maximum customer base of over 1.77 million, followed by Uninor (1.4 million) and Videcocon (1.38 million). Aircel's customer losses were largely triggered by its operations scaledown in unprofitable circles such as Gujarat, Haryana, UP (West), Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh and Kerala, while Uninor and Videocon lost customers as they were forced to switch off GSM networks in regions where they did not retain 2G airwaves. "Older operators like Airtel, Idea and Vodafone recorded netadditions last month while some newer players lost customers as they had to stop mobile coverage in circles where they did not retain 2G spectrum. This apart, deactivations declined last month after sector regulator Trai asked telcos not to disconnect inactive customers for 90 days as long as they maintained a rs 20 balance," said COAI director general Rajan Mathews. Bharti Airtel and Idea declined to respond to ET's specific queries on their customer growth drivers and whether a recent Trai directive on retaining idle customers for 90 days had triggered fewer deactivations. The Vodafone India spokespers on said the company had added fewer customers compared to its nearest rivals, Bharti Airtel and Idea, due to rationalisation in subscriber acquisition costs. "Subscriber acquisition cost rationalisation in a seasonally slow Q2 impacted customer additions along with the clean up of idle subscribers ," its spokespers on added. Mathews also claimed customer disconnections had declined significantly last month "since mobile operators not only have to retain inactive subscribers for 90 days, in case of a deactivation, but also have to keep the number active for another 15 days, giving the customer a chance to reconnect, in line with Trai's new consumer protection rules". Industry experts claim a mobile phone company, on an average, spends about Rs 200 to acquire a new prepaid subscriber, which can double for postpaid connections. In a multi-SIM market like India, where 96% of all mobile subscribers are prepaid users , if a customer stops using the SIM within 45 days, the acquisition cost would be tough to recover. An executive of a leading GSM carrier said churn levels had also declined since mobile phone companies had cut down on freebies and promotional offers over the past few months, which had reduced customer migrations from one operator to another.  via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHjXk3bNYtDmTS3pOR5kX5NP76mGQ&url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/telecom/gsm-operators-arrest-customer-slide-by-adding-0-4-million-users-in-january/articleshow/18636651.cms | |||
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