Reliance Jio led Bharti Airtel on most directly comparable operational and financial metrics for the April–June 2025 quarter, including subscriber additions, data consumption, broadband expansion, and Ebitda growth. Airtel, meanwhile, retained its edge on monetisation with higher Arpus, profitability margins, and absolute Ebitda.
Jio’s net mobile additions stood at 7.3 million during the quarter—over six times Airtel’s 1.2 million. According to Trai’s active user data, which echoes this trend, Jio added 23.5 million active users, while Airtel added 3.2 million. Jio now has a total subscriber base of 498 million, versus Airtel’s 436 million.
“Jio’s aggressive 5G bundling and network investments are translating into tangible subscriber gains. The gap in net adds, both reported and active, continues to widen in its favour,” analysts from Jefferies noted.
Jio’s growth extended beyond mobile services. It added 2.6 million home broadband subscribers in the June quarter, taking its base to 20 million—nearly double Airtel’s 10.98 million. It also strengthened its presence in the fixed wireless access (FWA) segment with 1.8 million net adds, bringing its FWA base to 7.4 million. Airtel, by comparison, had 0.47 million net additions, taking its FWA base to 1.2 million.
Interestingly, while both telcos have shown healthy net additions on the home front, home Arpu growth does not follow the growth trend. For Airtel, the home services Arpu declined to Rs 537 sequentially, analysts estimate Jio’s home Arpu at Rs 450 to be flat quarter-on-quarter (Jio does not report home Arpu separately).
“This could be because of discounting or lower entry-level pricing in newer markets,” an analyst with a leading brokerage said.
Per capita data consumption remained a strong suit for Jio, rising to 37 GB per month, almost 38% higher than Airtel’s 26.9 GB per month. Jio’s lead in 5G user base at 210 million compared to Airtel’s at 135 million has contributed significantly to this, analysts said.
Airtel’s Focus: Premiumization and Profitability
However, Airtel continued to outperform on monetisation. Its mobile Arpu came in at Rs 250, compared to Jio’s Rs 208.8.
“Airtel remains focused on premiumisation, with incremental 4G/5G and postpaid mix driving steady Arpu momentum. We expect revenue growth to continue being led by mix rather than volume,” Goldman Sachs analysts observed.
BNP Paribas also flagged the quality of Airtel’s subscriber additions. “Arpu improvement continues to be led by higher quality subs, limited dilution from entry-level plans and growing contribution from postpaid, homes and DTH.”
On profitability, Jio posted a 5.3% sequential growth in Ebitda, while Airtel’s rose 2.8%. Airtel delivered a stronger absolute Ebitda at Rs 28,167 crore, compared to Jio’s at Rs 16,690 crore, and a higher Ebitda margin of 56.9% compared to Jio’s 54%.
The Divergent Playbooks of India’s Telecom Giants
Summing up the competitive dynamics, JPMorgan analysts said, “Jio is widening its lead on volume growth, while Airtel is still ahead on yield. Both are executing sharply different playbooks—and the divergence is starting to show.”