Airtel Adds Over 10 Lakh More Subscribers Than Reliance Jio in August: TRAI

Airtel managed to add more subscribers than Jio in the month of August 2020, the latest report from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) suggests. Airtel added 28.99 lakh subscribers, whereas Jio remained significantly behind with 18.64 lakh subscriber additions. Vi (Vodafone Idea) continued to lose subscribers with a decline of 12.28 lakh in the month of August. Reliance Jio enjoyed the largest share in the wireless telecom market with 35.08 percent market share and Airtel came in second with 28.12 percent market share.

TRAI's latest report for the month ending August 31 revealed that total wireless subscribers increased from 114.418 crores at the end of July to 114.792 crores at the end of August, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.33 percent. Reliance Jio's subscriber additions significantly reduced in August, when compared to July, and it went down from 35.54 lakhs to 18.64 lakhs, respectively.

Vodafone Idea lost many subscribers in August
Photo Credit: TRAI

When compared to its performance in July, Airtel also saw a decline in subscriber additions from 32.60 lakhs to 28.99 lakhs in the month of August. However, it is significantly more than Jio's performance in August. To be precise, Airtel added 10.35 lakh more subscribers than Jio in this month.

Vi (Vodafone Idea) lost about 12.28 lakh subscribers, a lot less than the 37.26 lakh subscribers lost in the month of July. BSNL made a modest gain of 2.14 lakh subscribers in the month of August. Airtel saw a monthly growth rate of 0.91 percent in wireless subscribers, whereas Jio lagged behind with a growth rate of 0.47 percent. According to TRAI, Kolkata and Himachal Pradesh regions showed maximum growth of 1.13 percent in its wireless subscriber base during the month of August.

Coming to broadband, TRAI report reveals that BSNL stood at 78.5 lakh subscribers at the end of August. Bharti Airtel came in second with 25.3 lakh subscribers, Atria Convergence followed with 17 lakh subscribers, and Jio sat with 12.5 lakh subscribers. In the wireless broadband category, Jio was at the top with 40.267 crores subscribers, Airtel was at 15.465 crore subscribers, Vi (Vodafone Idea) was at 11.991 crore subscribers, and BSNL was at 159 lakh subscribers.

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