Reliance Jio adds 1.7 million subscribers in October; Airtel, Vi together lose 1.5 million: TRAI
NEW DELHI: India’s largest telecom operator Reliance Jio added 1.7 million new mobile subscribers in October while its rivals Bharti Airtel lost 4,89,709 and Vodafone Idea lost 9,64,245 users during the month, as per the data released by Telecom Regulator of India on Monday.
Overall, the total wireless subscribers increased from 1,166.02 million at the end of September to 1,166.30 million at the end of October, registering a growth of 0.02%.
As on October 31, 2021, the private access service providers held 89.99% market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two government owned service providers, had a market share of only 10.01%. Among them Reliance Jio holds 36.58 %, Bharti Airtel holds 30.35 % and Vodafone Idea 23.07 % market share.
"The wireless subscription in urban areas decreased from 637.89 million at the end of September to 637.44 million at the end of October, however wireless subscription in rural areas increased from 528.13 million to 528.86 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless subscription were -0.07% and 0.14% respectively," reads the report.
Except Haryana, West Bengal, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Kolkata, all other service areas have shown growth in wireless subscribers during October.
In terms of active users, Bharti Airtel has the maximum proportion (97.78%) of its active wireless subscribers (VLR) as against its total wireless subscribers (HLR) and MTNL has the minimum proportion of VLR (18.50%) of its HLR in October.