As the effect of the tariff hikes taken by private telcos in July 2024 petered out, Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) continued to lose subscribers for the second consecutive month in December 2024, according to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
In December, the state-owned operator lost another 316,599 subscribers following a loss of 344,473 in November. BSNL, which had benefited from its low tariffs, added nearly seven million mobile users between July and October.
Private telcos also highlighted the reversal of subscriber movement from private players to BSNL in their December quarter earnings commentary. At the end of December 2024, BSNL’s total subscriber base stood at 91.72 million, compared to 92.05 million at the end of November.
Reliance Jio was the biggest gainer in December, adding 3.9 million subscribers—a significant jump from 1.2 million additions in November 2024. The company ended the month with 465.13 million subscribers, up from 461.2 million in November.
Bharti Airtel reversed its subscriber loss after five consecutive months by adding 1.03 million users, taking its total to 385.3 million at December end.
Meanwhile, the cash-strapped Vodafone Idea continued to experience subscriber losses, with its base shrinking by 1.71 million users during December to 207.25 million. This monthly churn was higher than November’s loss of 1.5 million subscribers.
Overall, the total mobile subscriber base rose by 2.01 million to 1.15 billion in December, according to Trai data. Growth was led by urban markets, which saw an addition of 2.75 million subscribers, while the rural subscriber base shrank by 740,000.
Jio’s market share increased to 40.42% in December (from 40.15% in November), whereas Airtel’s share rose to 33.49% (from 33.45%). Vodafone Idea’s share fell to 18.01% (from 18.19%) and BSNL’s share dropped to 7.99% (from 8.03%).
According to the data, the active subscriber base accounted for 92.15% of the total wireless subscribers. The active base fell marginally by 0.29 million in December to 1.06 billion. Among the operators, Airtel’s active subscriber base grew by 1.7 million to 382.07 million, whereas Jio’s active base decreased by 1.6 million to 445.6 million by the end of December. Vodafone Idea’s active user base was at 176.51 million, down by 0.39 million during the month.
Fixed Wireless subscribers grew by 1.03% in December to 5.21 million. However, this figure does not reflect the December internet subscription data for Jio and Airtel, as these companies did not submit their data, Trai stated.
During the month, 13.85 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP), taking the cumulative MNP requests to 1,079.19 million, compared to 1,065.35 million at the end of November 2024.