Continuing strong momentum, Reliance Jio has added 5.46 million wireless subscribers in June, the highest in the industry for five straight months. Bharti Airtel, added 3.81 million in June, witnessing a strong recovery during the month after losing 4.61 million subscribers in May. However, Vodafone Idea though continues to lose subscribers with 4.28 million customers leaving the company.
On the back of strong additions by Jio and Bharti, the overall wireless subscriber base rose 3.99 million in June to reach 1,180.83 million.
In May, the overall wireless subscriber base had declined 6.27 million, as all the telcos barring Jio, had lost subscribers. The primary reason for the loss was the migration of workers to their native hometowns, which led to the deactivation of multiple SIMs.
As per data shared by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), Jio’s wireless subscriber base rose by 1.27% in June to reach 436.69 million. Similarly, Bharti Airtel’s base rose by 1.09% to 352.11 million. Vodafone Idea’s wireless user base was down 1.55% to 273.33 million while BSNL’s base was reduced to 115.35 million.
In terms of wireless broadband users, Jio’s base stood at 436.69 million, followed by Airtel at 193.74 million, Vodafone Idea at 121.41 million. Competition for 4G users is getting heated up as mobile operators try to add and upgrade more users. Reliance is giving a JioPhone for Rs 1,999, which comes with 24 months of unlimited service. Another plan is for `1,499, which comes with 12 months of unlimited service.
As there is so much customer movement, the MNP requests have also been consistently high for the past few months. The MNP requests stood at 12.27 million in June.
In terms of wireline broadband subscribers, Reliance Jio has been adding the maximum number of users, primarily due to the rollout of its fibre connectivity across the country. Jio added around 220,000 wireline broadband users in June followed by 130,000 of Airtel.
BSNL managed to curb attrition of wireline broadband users in June as the company witnessed no change in user base. As of June, the wireline broadband base of BSNL stood at 6.03 million, followed by 3.37 million of Airtel, 3.22 million of Reliance Jio, 1.91 million of ACT and 1.06 million of Hathway Cable.
