Bharti Airtel led wireless subscriber additions in January, adding about 4.4 million users, ahead of Reliance Jio’s 2.4 million, even as Vodafone Idea continued to lose subscribers during the month, according to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
Overall, the industry added about 6.7 million wireless (mobile) subscribers in January, taking the total base to 1.25 billion at the end of the month, up from 1.24 billion in December. The monthly growth rate stood at 0.54%.
Airtel accounted for the bulk of incremental additions, reinforcing its recent momentum in subscriber gains. Jio remained the second-largest contributor, continuing to expand its base, though at a slower pace compared to Airtel during the month. In contrast, Vodafone Idea lost roughly 0.4 million users, extending its run of subscriber declines. State-run BSNL posted modest gains of about 0.27 million, while MTNL saw a marginal decline.
Market Consolidation
The divergence in subscriber trends reflects the ongoing consolidation in the telecom market, with stronger private operators continuing to gain share at the expense of weaker players. Private operators together held over 92% market share in wireless subscribers at the end of January, while BSNL and MTNL accounted for the rest.
On a broader basis, total wireless subscribers, including fixed wireless access (FWA), rose to 1.27 billion from 1.26 billion in December, marking a net addition of 7.57 million users. Growth was seen across both urban and rural markets, with urban subscriptions rising to 725.7 million and rural subscriptions to 540.7 million.
The data also show that active users, measured by visitor location register (VLR), stood at 1.17 billion in January, indicating that about 93.7% of the total wireless subscriber base was active during the month.
Urban vs. Rural Growth Dynamics
Regionally, all telecom circles reported growth in wireless subscribers on a monthly basis. Circle A markets led additions with about 2.79 million users, followed closely by Circle B with 2.69 million and Circle C with 1.85 million additions. Metro circles added about 0.24 million subscribers.
The continued gains by Airtel and Jio come amid sustained investments in network capacity and 5G rollouts, alongside efforts to improve user experience and data speeds. Vodafone Idea’s subscriber losses, meanwhile, underline its ongoing challenges in stabilising its user base despite recent tariff hikes and network upgrades.
Mobile number portability requests remained elevated at around 15.98 million during the month, indicating continued churn in the market as users switch operators in search of better network quality and pricing.