Jio, Airtel Expand User Base as India Telecom User Base Grows to 1.19 Million: TRAI

Telecom subscriber base in the country grew marginally to 1,191.05 million at November end with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel expanding their user base, according to TRAI data. Reliance Jio has also toppled BSNL as top fixed line broadband subscriber 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 1,167.5 million at end-November, according to a monthly subscriber report published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (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 per cent," the TRAI report said.

Reliance Jio led the growth in mobile segment with 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 207,114, Bharti 130,902 and Quadrant added 8,287 new fixed line customers while dominant player in the segment BSNL lost 77,434 customers in November. VIL lost 38,083 fixed line customers, Reliance Communications 2,373, Tata Teleservices 2019 and MTNL 1,828 customers.

The broadband subscribers in the country grew to 801.6 million in November from 798.95 million in October with Reliance Jio maintaining its lead in the segment.

Reliance Jio fixed line broadband customer base increased to 4.34 million from 4.16 million in October.

BSNL's customer base declined to 4.2 million in November from 4.72 million in October. Bharti Airtel fixed line broadband customer base stood at 4.08 million in November.

"Top five service providers constituted 98.68 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of November," TRAI said.

Reliance Jio's total broadband subscriber base stood at 432.96 million in November. It was followed by Bharti Airtel with 210.10 million broadband customers, VIL 122.40 million, BSNL 23.62 million and Atria Convergence broadband customer base stood at 1.98 million.