Jio, Airtel Add to Subscriber Tally in September, Vi Saw Decline: TRAI Data
India’s total number of mobile phone subscribers fell by 3.6 million in September, with Vodafone Idea having the lowest number of subscribers as major rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel added users month on month, according to data from the telecoms regulator. India’s largest mobile operator Jio also strengthened its position in the market, adding 7,20,000 wireless subscribers in September, while Bharti Airtel increased its mobile subscriber base by 4,12,000.
Notably, while Jio led peers in subscriber additions in September, its net additions during this period were lower than the 32,81,000 subscribers the telco achieved in August.
Ailing Vodafone Idea faced a decline in subscribers (by 40,00,000), its base falling to 24.91 crore in September.
“The total number of wireless subscribers decreased from 1,149.11 million at the end of August 22 to 1,145.45 million at the end of September 22, thus registering a monthly decline rate of 0.32 percent,” said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) releasing the subscription data. September.
Overall, the number of telephone subscribers in India (mobile and fixed line together) declined to around 117.19 crores by the end of September 2022, translating to a monthly decline rate of 0.27 percent.
TRAI said total broadband subscribers will rise to 81.6 crore by the end of September 2022, with a monthly growth rate of 0.28 percent.
The top five service providers make up a market share of 98.36 percent of the total number of broadband subscribers at the end of September 2022.
“These service providers were Reliance Jio (426.80 million), Bharti Airtel (225.09 million), Vodafone Idea (123.20 million), BSNL (25.62 million), Atria Convergence (2.14 million),” said TRAI.
Back in August, Reliance Jio overtook state-owned BSNL to become the largest fixed line service provider in the country, according to a TRAI report. It was the first time since the beginning of telecommunication services in the country that an independent operator has been given the top position in the telephone division.
