India Now Has Nearly 1.2 B Telecom Users, Reliance Jio Leads The Pack
Reliance Jio has also toppled BSNL as the top fixed-line broadband service provider and now leads the segment with 4.34 million customers which had been dominated by the state-run telecom since its inception about 20 years ago.
The country’s telecommunications subscriber base grew marginally to 1.19 billion by the end of November 2021, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel expanding their user base, according data available with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
Reliance Jio has also toppled BSNL as top fixed-line broadband service provider and now leads the segment with 4.34 million customers which had been dominated by the state-run telecom since its inception about 20 years ago.
Total wireless customer base in the country was 1.17 billion by the end of November, according to a monthly subscriber report published by TRAI. Both wireless and fixed-line connections registered growth during the month. “Total wireless subscribers increased from 1,166.30 million at the end of October 2021 to 1,167.50 million at the end of November 2021, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.10 percent,” the TRAI report said.
Reliance Jio led the growth in the mobile segment with a net addition of 20,19,362 customers, taking its total subscriber base to over 428 million. Bharti Airtel added 13,18,251 new mobile subscribers. Vodafone Idea (VIL) continued to lose subscribers. The company lost 18,97,050 customers in November and its total subscriber base fell to 267.12 million. State-run telecom companies BSNL and MTNL too failed to gain customers in November. BSNL lost 2,40,062 mobile customers while MTNL lost 4,318 connections.
The fixed-line connections in the country increased to 23.55 million in November from 23.32 million in October with private players Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel leading the race. Reliance Jio added 2,07,114, Airtel 1,30,902 and Quadrant added 8,287 new fixed-line customers, while the dominant player in the segment, BSNL, lost 77,434 customers in November. Vi lost 38,083 fixed-line customers, Reliance Communications 2,373, Tata Teleservices 2,019 and MTNL 1,828 customers.
Broadband subscribers in the country grew to 80.16 crore in November from 79.9 crore in October with Reliance Jio maintaining its lead in the segment. Reliance Jio fixed-line broadband customer base increased to 43.4 lakh from 41.6 lakh in October. BSNL’s customer base declined to 42 lakh in November from 47,2 lakh in October. Airtel fixed-line broadband customer base stood at 40.8 lakh in November. “
Top five service providers constituted 98.68 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of November,” TRAI said. Reliance Jio’s total broadband subscriber base stood at 43.3 crore in November. It was followed by Bharti Airtel with 21 crore broadband customers, Vi at 12.24 crore, BSNL 2.37 crore and Atria Convergence broadband customer base stood at 19.8 crore.
(PTI)
