Vodafone Idea the Largest Telecom Operator in India With 380 Million Subscribers as of July: TRAI

Vodafone Idea continues its reign as the top telecom operator in India on the basis of the total number of subscribers, the latest data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) reveals. For a brief period between July-end and mid-August, Jio was said to be the top telecom operator in the country given the data shared by Vodafone Idea in its quarterly report. However, in all of its reports so far, TRAI has put Vodafone Idea as the biggest telecom operator. The latest TRAI data records figures until July 31.

The latest subscriber data report, released by TRAI earlier today, shows Vodafone Idea with 380 million subscribers, followed by Reliance Jio with 339.8 million, and Airtel with 328.5 million subscribers. TRAI says that the total number of wireless subscribers increased to 1,168.3 million by the end of July and Reliance Jio and BSNL were the only wireless carriers to add any subscribers. Jio added 8.5 million subscribers, whereas BSNL added just over 290,000. All other operators continued with their losing streak, with Vodafone Idea losing the greatest number of subscribers from June-end to July-end. This has been the trend for the past many months.

“As on 31st July, 2019, the private access service providers held 89.73 percent market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 10.27 percent,” TRAI wrote in its report.

Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone Idea hold 89.73 percent market share
Photo Credit: TRAI

In terms of the total active subscribers, Airtel has the biggest percentage of its subscribers as active – 94.95 percent, followed by Jio with 83.07 percent, and Vodafone Idea with 81.9 percent. Thanks to the biggest percentage of active subscribers, Airtel is actually the largest wireless operator in the country in terms of the active subscribers, followed by Vodafone Idea, and Reliance Jio.

Among other titbits, TRAI has shared that a total of 437.15 million subscribers have opted for mobile number portability (MNP) since MNP was introduced in the country.