Chandigarh: Telecom major Airtel Thursday said it had crossed the five million subscriber base mark in three northern states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Much of the growth has taken place in the last two years. The number of subscribers has doubled from 2.5 mn in 2006 to 5 mn in 2008.

"Over one million customers have been added in the last 11 months alone. We have become the largest cellular service provider in these three circles. We have made significant progress in these states and are looking at greater penetration in the coming time," Sanjeev Kumar Saxena, Airtel CEO for all three states, said.

Airtel claims it has an overall 30 percent of market share in the three circles - the highest by any mobile service provider in the region.

"Airtel entered the Himachal circle 10 years ago while in Punjab and Haryana we entered just over five years ago. Our growth has been steady and consistent," Airtel's chief operating officer Sanjay Bahl said.

Company officials said Airtel had over 3.2 million subscribers in Punjab alone followed by over one million in Haryana and over 800,000 in Himachal Pradesh.