Vodafone has edged out Bharti Airtel to grab number one slot in terms of largest rural subscriber base in India for the first time, according to latest rural subscriber figures by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry body representing GSM operators.
 
Vodafone India added 4.9 million rural customers during February and March 2013, while its rivals added 2.57 million and Idea Cellular 2.75 million subscribers.

Vodafone with a slender lead now has 82.24 million rural subscribers as compared to Bharti Airtel’s 82.16 million. But in terms of total number of subscribers and revenue, Bharti Airtel continues to lead the pack with 188.20 million subscriber base at the end of March with 28.47% market share.
 
In comparison Vodafone India's total customer base as on March 31, 2013 stood at 152.35 million, with 23.05% market share. Both Vodafone and Airtel increased their pan-India subscriber base by 1.65% and 0.84% and respectively in March.

Together GSM operators  added 5.35 million customers in March and the pan-India GSM customer base on April 1 stood at 660.94 million.

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