As popular telecom companies such as Jio, Vodafone and Airtel, among others, BSNL saw a surge in its user base. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) which is a state-owned company has seen a significant surge in its customer migration.
Recent reports show that it gained 5.5 million users porting their numbers to its network. The new development came after private telecom operators increased their tariffs in June 2024. Here’s a look at what happened.
BSNL onboards more users
As reported by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) , there has been a steady increase in BSNL’s port-ins from July 2024 to October 2024. These numbers highlight the ‘ups and downs’ that the telecom company saw in the past few months. About 1.5 million users switched to BSNL in July. Then in August, it went up to 2.1 million users. However, in September it declined to 1.1 million and then it went lowest to 0.7 million in October.
This marks a dramatic shift from June 2024, when BSNL recorded only 63,709 port-ins. The operator also saw a decrease in customers leaving its network. While about 0.4 million users ported out in June, the numbers dropped to 0.31 million in July, then 0.26 million in August, and 0.28 million in September. Finally, in October it rose to 0.51 million .
The way ahead
Looking at the overall market of BSNL, the state owned telecom has seen a rise and fall in its users. Another report by TelecomTalk, highlights that BSNL’s number of Wi-Fi subscriber fell from 10,92,650 in FY 2020 to just 4,06,600 by the financial year ending March 31, 2024. This marks a huge reduction in its customer base, highlighting a trend of decline that has been ongoing since 2020.
Then in September, the wireline broadband segment of BSNL maintained a market share of 16.61% alongside MTNL’s 5.61% share. However, this was significantly lower compared to Jio’s all-year high 40.61% share and Airtel’s 25.24% share.
As public telecommunications companies see a rise in their users, other private telecom operators face significant subscriber losses. The private telecom industry lost 10 million users in September 2024 alone, according to TRAI data. The report also highlights that Jio lost 7.9 million, Vodafone Idea 1.5 million and Airtel 1.4 million subscribers.
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