India's overall GSM user base grew by 7.61 million subscribers to 711.02 million in February this year, according to fresh data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

Mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel led the market with 200.84 million GSM customers, but industry association COAI reported no net additions for the operator for the month of February because of some technical difficulties with operator's system.

Vodafone's GSM user base grew by 2.16 million to 164.34 million subscribers, while Idea Celluar added 3.33 million new customers to end the month under review with 133.55 million subscribers. Idea Cellular, which gained the highest number of new customers during February, ended the month with a market share of 18.78 per cent.

State-run operator BSNL ended the month with 97.17 million GSM customers and COAI listed no net additions. Aircel added 702,934 new customers to end the month with a total of 69.15 million GSM customers.

Telewings, which came into existence after Telenor's break up with Unitech, gained 970,894 new subscribers, while Videocon added 433,738 new customers. State-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) gained just 12,358 new customers during the month.

Telecom circle-wise, Uttar Pradesh (East) added the maximum number of subscribers (62.47 million) during the month under review.