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HYDERABAD, June 15

EVEN as Andhra Pradesh has recorded the momentous occasion of one million mobile phones pieced together by the four operators, the State - owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, has crossed the three-lakh mark earlier this month barely eight months of its roll out of its CellOne.

And BSNL is set to catch up with two incumbents — Bharti Mobile and Idea Cellular, given the current pace of customer acquisitions.

The gap between BSNL and Bharti Mobile, which in April displaced Idea Cellular to take the No.1 slot, and Idea Cellular has narrowed down significantly. As per statistics of the Cellular Operators Association of India, by the end of May 2003, Idea had a base of 3,00,622, Bharti recorded 3,37,721, Hutchison Essar South 45,699 and BSNL was at 2,97,660. Significantly, most number of additions have been recorded by BSNL in May but the operator has registered a lower growth in May in comparison to April and the earlier months. On the other hand, Idea Cellular, which was a leader all along since beginning of its operations, has lost about 2,500 subscribers in May and Hutch registered a marginal growth.

Earlier this month, Bharti had announced its plans to invest about Rs 137 crore in expansion of its network and enhance its reach to some semi-urban and rural areas, which is where BSNL has recorded significant growth in numbers. After the May results of COAI, BSNL is learnt to have crossed the three-lakh mark. If the current rate of customer acquisition continues, BSNL in all probability is likely to displace the incumbents.

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