Airtel has 200 million mobile subscribers in India to boast about. It’s the first telecom brand in the country to reach such a milestone. And India is the second largest mobile market in the entire world. How’s that for relevance? In the 20 years since its inception, the service provider can talk about many highlights.
The company claims to have bounded over the 100 million customer mark in 2009. This means that 100 million more subscribers were added within a span of approximately five years. The Economic Times notes that the brand scooped up 28.1% of the mobile market share by the end of January according to Cellular Operators Association of India estimates.
Meanwhile, Vodafone is expected to stand in second place with its 162.1 million user base. The 200 million achievement is not the only thing Artel was proud to announce since Monday. The company has also acquired Loop Mobile in Mumbai. The agreement is reported to see 700 crores changing hands between the two involved parties.
This deal will also make Airtel the biggest name in telecom in Mumbai. Its 4 million or more customers in the city will now have swelled by an extra 3 million Loop ex-users. For the additional network support needed to transition subscribers between services, the operator will also add 2,500 more Loop cell sites to its current collection of 4,000.
Not only does Airtel provide 2G and 3G services across India, it is presently trialing 4G in Bengalooru. We suppose its 200 million and counting user base have much faster data speeds and better call quality to look forward to in the future.