The country's mobile subscriber base crossed 100 million in May, with GSM based cellular operators subscriber base touching 75.3 million while that of CDMA based operators touched 25.3 million.
China has the largest mobile subscriber base at 400 million.
The figures released by respective associations Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) stated that while cellular operators added 3.2 million subscribers, CDMA operators added about 1.1 million new users taking the total number of the addition to about 4.3 million.
But challenges of poor teledensity remain at 12 per cent. More worrisome is the rural telephony teledensity, which is still below 2 per cent.
Currently, running into the 11th year of telecom reforms, the sector has seen a lot of controversy, litigation and major policy changes.
From the corporatisation of the Department of Telecom to BSNL to the WLL controversy finally leading to full mobility and shifting of steep license fee regime to a flexible revenue-share are some of the crucial decisions taken by various governments to help facilitate growth in the sector.
Operators led by their respective associations will celebrate India's achievement of 100 million mobile subscribers. Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran would be present on the occasion.