New Delhi, Dec 27 (IANS) India's mobile phone market added 18.98 million new subscribers to its network in October, taking the total number of connections to 706.69 million, official data has showed.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the wireless phone user base grew 2.76 percent to 706.69 million in October from 687.71 million in the previous month.

With this, the total telephone subscriber base in the country, both wireless and wireline connections combined, touched 742.12 million. The overall tele-density reached 62.51 percent.

The growth in India's wireless phone category was led by Bharti Airtel, which added three million users to take its subscriber base to 146 million users.

Vodafone Essar was next with 2.49 million new subscribers, that raised its subscriber base to 118 million, while new telecom player Uninor added 2.48 million connections, toting up 13.74 milion subscribers.

According to the fresh data, the broadband subscriber base grew 2.24 percent from 10.29 million in September to 10.52 million in October 2010.

However, the wireline segment declined further.

"Wireline subscriber base declined from 35.57 million in September-2010 to 35.43 million at the end of October 2010," said TRAI statement.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), the two state-run operators, hold 83.31 percent of the wireline market share.