For the first time since January 2025, Bharti Airtel outpaced market leader Reliance Jio in net subscriber additions in December 2025 as the telco added 5.43 million net new users in the month, compared to Jio’s 2.96 million, according to the latest subscriber data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
Subscriber loss for Vodafone Idea moderated to 0.94 million, as compared to 1.01 million in November 2025.
State-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) reported subscriber loss after three consecutive months of addition at 0.21 million (November: addition of 0.42 million).
Jio’s total subscriber base at the end of December 2025
At the end of December 2025, Jio’s total subscriber base stood at 489 million as compared to 486.1 million at end of November. Airtel’s subscriber base at end of the month was 463.4 million as against November’s 458 million while, Vodafone Idea’s subscriber base at the end of the month was 198.7 million (November: 199.7million) and BSNL’s was 92.7 million (November: 92.9 million).
Airtel also outpaced Jio in terms of 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) customer additions in December, continuing the trend from the previous month. It added 0.31 million net new users as comared to Jio’s 0.28 million.
As a result, Jio’s 5G FWA base now stands at 7.92 million (November: 7.65 million) and Airtel’s at 2.5 million (November: 2.76 million). The total FWA base in the country at December end was 10.99 million (November: 10.41 million).
Jio, which has also launched UBR FWA added 0.4 new customers on the service, taking its total user base to 3.57 million at the end of December 2025 (November: 3.19 million).
Mobile subscriber base
Overall, the mobile subscribers base rose by 8.21 million to 1.26 billion in December, according to data released by Trai. Growth was led the urban markets which saw 6.86 million subscriber addition while rural subscriber base grew by 1.35 million.
Jio’s market share dropped to 39.31% from 41.41% in November. Airtel’s subscriber market share rose significantly at 37.24% in December (November: 33.64%). The increase in monthly customer churn resulted in accelerated market share loss for Vodafone Idea at 15.98% (November: 17.01%). BSNL’s share of user base also dipped marginally to 7.46% (November: 7.92%).
According to regulator data, active subscribers base, accounted for 93.47% of the total wireless subscribers (November: 92.93%). The total active subscriber base rose to 1.163 billion as compared to 1.091 billion in November.
Among the operators, Airtel’s active subscribers base was 98.96% of the overall userbase, Jio’s was 98.25%, and Vodafone Idea’s was 85.3%.
Fixed broadband subscribers grew month on month to 45.29 million in December (November: 45.11 million).
During the month, 16.12 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP).