The fall in GSM-based cellular subscribers growth continued with just 979,000 additions in May 2004, at 2.81 crore (28.1 million), with the Bharti Group cornering over one-fourth of the market at 73.43 lakh (7.34 million) customers.

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According to the latest figures released by the Cellular Operators Association of India, the subscriber additions during May stood at 979,000, lower than the net additions in April, which were at 990,000.

At 73.43 lakh user base, Bharti had a marketshare of 26.08 per cent in May 2004. It added 585,000 subscribers during the month.

Hutch occupied the second slot with total subscriber base of 55.91 lakh (5.59 million) and a slightly increased marketshare of 19.86 per cent. It added 203,000 subscribers in the month.

BSNL ended the month with a subscriber base of 55.27 lakh (5.53 million) and a marketshare of 19.63 per cent, which is lower than its previous month's share of 19.73 per cent. The net addition for BSNL in May was 172,000 subscribers.

Idea Cellular has a subscriber base of 39.61 lakh (3.96 million), adding 11.47 lakh (1.15 million) subscribers with an increased marketshare of 14.07 per cent.

BPL cornered 20.87 lakh (2.09 million) subscribers in May to have a marketshare of 7.42 per cent while the state-owned MTNL, which operates only in Delhi and Mumbai, ended with a marketshare of 1.41 per cent with a subscriber base of 396,000.

Reliance's May subscriber base was at 850,000 with a marketshare of 3.02 per cent.