NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel beat Reliance Jio in terms of new subscriber additions—a key metric for the intensely competitive but highly saturated mobile telephone sector.
According to data released by telecom regulator TRAI on Wednesday, The Sunil Bharti Mittal-led company added 3.67 million new customers in October, taking its total wireless customer base to 330.28 million. Jio, on the other hand, added 2.22 million new mobile customers, taking its total subscriber base to 406.35 million.
All other telecom operators—Vodafone Idea, BSNL, and MTNL—continued to see their user bases eroding. This is the second straight month during which Airtel has pipped Jio in terms of subscriber addition, a crucial shift in trends from earlier when Jio had expanded at top notch speed, consistently leading user addition numbers for nearly three years straight.
However, with prices beginning to go up starting last December and the fading away of uncertainty following the resolution of the AGR case has allowed Airtel to ramp up its network investments. According to analysts, Airtel has also managed to increase users in the more lucrative premium customer segments.
However, the wired broadband market—heavily underpenetrated and where JioFiber is trying to expand services into the less-served semi-urban and rural markets—saw the Mukesh Ambani-led firm add on the most subscribers at 2,45,912. This was followed by Bharti Airtel at 48,397, VIL with 9,400, and Quadrant with 5,198 customers. Overall wireline connections, however, fell to 19.99 million from 20.08 million in September. The biggest loser was consequently state-owned BSNL.