Vodafone on the slide in India

Despite record monthly new additions in the Indian GSM market, Vodafone Essar reported a fall in new subscribers--its sixth successive month of declining additions.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Essar's main rival, Bharti Airtel, beat its own monthly net additions record for the second successive month in January, as new connection numbers reached 2.25 million, up from 2.20 million in December. This compares to Vodafone Essar's high of 1.69 million in July 2007, falling to 1.28 million in January this year.

This troubling news comes as another Indian operator, Reliance Telecom--with a 5 per cent share of the market, announced a US$500 million acquisition of Uganda based Anupam Global Soft. Using the licenses held by Anupam, Reliance said it planned to offer mobile, fixed, WiMAX and WiFi services in Uganda by the end of this year.

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Associated story: Reliance to Invest in Uganda