India added a further 8.77 million GSM subscribers in February 2011, and even the networks facing the cancellation of their licenses were still adding new subscribers.

The country ended the month with a total of 656.86 million GSM subscribers, according to data from the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

Although its operating licenses were cancelled in January, Uninor still managed to sign up 2.34 million new customers, taking its total customer base to 41.14 million. The company is still operating, pending the re-auction of the licenses.

Another loser from the license scandal, Videocon also added 0.34 million subscribers, taking its total customer base to 6.19 million.

Of the older networks, Idea Cellular ended the month with 110.7 million customers, a rise of 2.58 million while Bharti Airtel added 1.82 million to take its customer base to 178.77 million.

Vodafone though saw its subscriber growth shrink, to just 830,000. The company ended the month with 149.44 million customers.

Aircel added 790,000 customers to take its base to 63.25 million.