NEW DELHI: Telecom operator Vodafone Idea lost a whopping 2 million subscribers in February 2023, and now the telco is left with just 20.84% market share, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
The debt-laden company has lost nearly 2 percentage point market share in the past year. Vodafone Idea had 23.09% market share in mobile service in February 2022. Meanwhile, its competitors Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel continued to gain subscribers. Reliance Jio, which had 35.28% market share in February 2022, gained about 2 percentage points in market space in the past year.
Similarly, Bharti Airtel also gained more than 1 percentage point market share in the past year. The telco, which had 31.37% market share, now has 32.39%. According to the Trai data, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, both added 1 million and 0.98 million respectively new subscribers in February 2023.
In terms of active users too, Vodafone Idea has the lowest proportion among the three telcos. Bharti Airtel has the maximum proportion 99.25%, followed by Reliance Jio 93.08%, Vodafone Idea has 87.55% and BSNL has only 51.75%
Interestingly, the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) somehow retained its customer’s base in the past year. The telco, which had 9.98% market share in February 2022, still retains its 9.12% market share.