Reliance Jio added 2.7 million new users in the month of May, according to telecom subscriber data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
The country’s second largest telco Bharti Airtel continued to see sluggish net additions at 2,75, 621, though it added higher number of customers sequentially (April: 170, 658 subscribers).
Vodafone Idea’s net customer churn slowed month-on-month to 2,74, 103 users as compared to 6,47, 650 in April continuing the trend of lower net subscriber loss since February this year.
In May, state-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) lost 1,35, 654 users, slowing the pacing of subscriber loss from 1,55, 000 users in April.
At the end of May 2025, Jio’s total subscriber base stood at 475.11 million as compared to 472.41 million at end of April. Airtel’s subscriber base at the end of May was 390.25 million (April: 389.97 million), Vodafone Idea’s was 204.44 million (April: 204.71 million) and BSNL’s was 90.77 million (April: 90.9 million).
Airtel added 1,82, 458 fixed wireless access (FWA) customers in May, though Jio reported a decrease of 2,86, 331 FWA customers in the month.
Trai’s report clarified that this dip was on account of the telco modifying the categorisation of FWA and fibre-to-the-home (FTTH)/home broadband customers. Essentially, some of its existing FWA customers now reflect under the FTTH heading.
As a result, Jio’s FWA base now stands at 5.85 million (April: 6.14 million) and Airtel’s at 1.54 million (April: 1.36 million). The total FWA base in the country in May was 7.4 million. Jio continues to be the sole telco to have a rural presence in this space.
Overall, the mobile subscribers base rose by 1.66 million to 1.168 billion in May, according to data released by Trai. Growth was led by the urban markets which saw 1.61 million subscriber addition, while rural subscriber base grew by 0.38 million.
Jio’s market share rose marginally to 40.92 % from 40. 76% in April. Airtel’s subscriber market share declined for a second consecutive month to 33.61 % in May as compared to 33. 65% in the month prior. Despite slowdown in monthly customer churn, Vodafone Idea continued to cede market share at 17.61 % (April: 17. 66%). BSNL’s share of user base also shrunk marginally to 7.82% (April: 7.84%).
According to regulator data, active subscribers base, accounted for 93.03% of the total wireless subscribers (April: 92.56%). The total active subscriber base rose to 1.08 billion in April as compared to 1.072 billion in April.
Among the operators, Airtel’s active subscribers base reduced by 3,13 million to 386.84 million, whereas Jio’s active base was grew by 5.38 million at 462.04 million as of May end. Vodafone Idea’s active user base was 172.87 million, down by 1.34 million during the month.
Fixed broadband subscribers grew 6.46% month on month at 44.09 million in May (April: 41.41 million). During the month, 14.03 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) taking the cumulative MNP requests to 1, 146.45 million as compared to 1132.41 million at the end of April.