Reliance Jio Gains Most Wireless Subscribers, Airtel Posts Best Proportion of VLR in October: TRAI

Reliance Jio registered the highest monthly growth rate as well as net addition of wireless subscribers in the month of October as total wireless subscribers increased, registering a monthly growth rate of 0.02 percent, according to a report by TRAI. Bharti Airtel had the biggest proportion of active wireless subscribers (aka VLR subscribers) in the month of October. This was followed by Vi (Vodafone Idea) and Jio. PSUs like BSNL and MTNL registered the lowest VLR subscribers percentage, respectively.

TRAI's telecom subscription report for October showed that 996.47 million out of the total 1,166.30 million wireless subscribers were active on the date of peak VLR in the month of October. The proportion of these subscribers was 85.44 percent of the total wireless subscriber base. The total wireless subscribers increased from 1,166.02 million at the end of September to 1,166.30 million at the end of October, registering a monthly growth rate of 0.02 percent.

Incidentally, wireless subscriptions in urban areas decreased from 637.89 million to 637.44 million and increased from 528.13 million to 528.86 million in rural areas in a month. Monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless subscription were - 0.07 percent and 0.14 percent, respectively.

When it comes to Access Service Provider-wise segregation, Jio commanded 36.58 percent of the total wireless subscriber market, and added the most (1,761,137) subscribers in October. The company has 84.03 percent proportion of its active wireless subscribers. Airtel is the second-largest telecom giant with 30.35 percent market share in terms of wireless subscribers. The company lost 489,709 wireless subscribers in October. However, it registered the biggest 97.78 percent proportion of its active wireless subscribers.

The third spot went to Vi which captured 23.04 percent of the total market share, lost the most (964,245) subscribers and registered 87.10 percent proportion of its active wireless subscribers. BSNL (9.73 percent market share) and MTNL (0.28 percent market share) lost wireless subscribers and registered losses in the month of October. In a nutshell, Jio registered a growth of 0.41 percent, Airtel registered 0.14 percent loss and Vodafone Idea registered 0.36 percent loss in wireless subscribers in the month of October.

Top five service providers constituted 98.69 percent market share of the total broadband (wired + wireless) subscribers at the end of October 2021. These service providers were Jio (430.75 million), Airtel (208.71 million), Vi (122.47 million), BSNL (24.57 million), and ACT (1.97 million), the report said. In the wired broadband service providers list, BSNL topped with 4.72 million subscribers, followed by Jio (4.16 million), Airtel (3.98 million), ACT (1.97 million), and Hathway (1.07 million).