India adds 9.22 mln mobile users in July: regulator

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian mobile telecoms firms added 9.2 million users in July, taking subscribers in the world's fastest growing wireless market to nearly 300 million, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said on Monday.

Leading mobile firm Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) signed up 2.7 million customers, enough for it to overtake state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd as India's largest telecom firm by total subscribers, including fixed-line subscribers.

Second-ranked mobile firm Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO) added 1.75 million customers, and No. 3 Vodafone Essar, controlled by Britain's Vodafone Plc (VOD.L), added 1.76 million.

India is the world's fastest-growing market for wireless services and the second-largest market for such services after China, with growth fuelled by cheap handsets and call rates as low as 1 U.S. cent a minute.

The regulator's data showed Indian wireless phone users rose to 296.1 million in July, while fixed-line line subscriptions fell by around 160,000 to 38.8 million.

(Reporting by Rakesh Sharma; Editing by John Mair)