MUMBAI: Idea Cellular in New Delhi has announced that is has crossed the 700,000 subscriber mark in the capital city. Idea created landmarks of being the fastest to reach the 100,000 and 500,000 subscribers mark in the GSM space.

Idea Delhi states that it has been growing rapidly in the recent months wherein it has added 28,619 subscribers in July and 34,653 subscribers in August. The net additions in August 2005 were the highest among all GSM operators in Delhi the company claims.

Idea Delhi also claims to be the only private GSM operator, whose revenue grew by 3.7 per cent in the quarter April – June 2005 over the previous quarter, where competition showed a decline. In the last one year, Idea’s revenue market share between all the three private GSM players (Airtel, Hutch and Idea) grew from 12.3 per cent to 14.1 per cent.
On ARPU’s, Idea is the only operator to post a growth of 1.2 per cent in ARPU’s from Rs. 414 to Rs. 419 for the period April-June 2005 over Jan – March 2005. For the same period Airtel’s ARPU dropped from Rs. 588 to Rs. 566, a decline of 5.4 per cent and Hutch’s from Rs. 477 to Rs. 446, a decline of 6.5 per cent.

Idea Cellular circle head Delhi Rajendra Chourasia said, “This growth is a result of our aggressive marketing strategies. The landmark offer of STD @ 99p and innovative products like I-card have received tremendous response from existing and new customers. The rapid subscriber growth clearly indicates the increase in preference for Idea among mobile users in Delhi.”

Idea states that it is the first operator in the country to launch the promotional offer of STD @ 99p in July. This was followed by the launch of New !-Card in August.