Airtel Became Second Largest Mobile Telco in India in February, Jio Retained Top Spot: TRAI

Bharti Airtel added over 9 lakh subscribers in February this year as per data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), making it the second-largest telecommunication operator in India with a market share of 28.35 percent. According to figures from the end of February that were shared by the regulator on Monday, the top spot was retained by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio which added over 62 lakh subscribers for the same period. Additionally, Vodafone-Idea lost nearly 34 lakh subscribers in February, taking it down to the third position. The company in January this year was the second-largest telecommunication operator in India but continued witnessing a drop in its subscriber base.

Wireless subscriber base

Notably, state-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nagar Limited (BSNL) also witnessed a growth in its user base for February with over 4 lakh new subscribers. TRAI data for February further reveals that the total wireless subscribers (2G, 3G, and 4G) in the country increased from 156 crores to 160 crores. However, wireless subscription in urban areas fell from 64.4 crores to 64.3 crores for the same period. Rural areas, on the other hand, witnessed growth in wireless subscribers to 51 crores.

Top five telecommunication operator in India in February as per TRAI, include Reliance Jio with 32.99 percent market. The list is followed by Bharti Airtel (28.35 percent), Vodafone Idea (28.05 percent), BSNL (10.32 percent), and MTNL (0.29 percent). By the end of February, Reliance Jio had a total of over 38.2 crore subscribers. Bharti Airtel had a subscriber base of over 32.9 crores, followed by Vodafone Idea (32.5 crores), BSNL (11.9 crores), and MTNL (34 lakh).

Broadband subscribers for February

Coming to the broadband data, the number of broadband subscribers increased from 67 crores to 68 crores in February.

"Top five service providers constituted 98.99 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of February," TRAI said.

At the end of the February, the top five wired broadband service providers were BSNL (81.1 lakh), Bharti Airtel (24.5 lakh), Atria Convergence Technologies (ATC) (15.6 lakh), Hathway (9.4 lakh), and Reliance Jio Infocomm (8.4 lakh). The top five wireless broadband service providers were Reliance Jio (38.2 crores), Bharti Airtel (14.6 crores)), Vodafone Idea (11.8 crores), BSNL (1.65 crores), and MTNL (1.8 lakh).

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