New Delhi: Mobile operator offering services on the GSM technology added over 9.48 million users in July, taking the overall GSM subscriber base to 325 million.

During the month, the country’s largest telecom operator, Bharti Airtel recorded a growth of 2.74%, adding over 2.8 million subscribers. Its market share was 32.29%. With this Bharti Airtel’s total mobile subscriber base stood at 105 million at the end of the month. With over 3.2 lakh additions, Bharti added the highest number of mobile users in Andhra Pradesh followed by Bihar. The telco that had been in exclusive negotiations with the South African telecom company MTN for a $23-billion complex cash-cum-share swap deal has extended its period of negotiations till August 31.

Vodafone-Essar, the country’s second largest GSM operator had a market share of 24.16% at the end of the month. It added 2.2 million users to its subscriber base taking its total mobile user base to 78 million. This was a growth of over 2.29% as compared to the month of June. It made the highest number of subscriber additions in UP East circle with over 2.6 lakh users.

The country’s second largest telecom operator in terms of fixed and mobile subscriber base, the state-run BSNL added over 1.6 million mobile users during the month. The company recorded a market share of over 15.57% in July for a subscriber base of 50 million. The company that had been recording erosion in its subscribers for the past few months was able to arrest the decline for the first time.

BSNL reported a measly profit of Rs 574 cr for the financial years 2008-9, which is down 81% compared to the preceding fiscal. While the profit from operations was negative the company was able to show positive profits on account of its profits from non-operations.