Jio adds 1.68 mn mobile subscribers in April; Airtel gains 810,000 users

India's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio gained 16.8 lakh mobile subscribers in April, cementing its lead in the market, while Bharti Airtel added 8.1 lakh users, according to TRAI data.

Vodafone Idea lost about 15.7 lakh mobile subscribers during April 2022, the monthly subscriber data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday showed.

As per the data, Jio added 16.8 lakh users, pushing-up its mobile user count to 40.5 crore.

Bharti Airtel too was a net gainer in April, as the Sunil Mittal-led telco added 8.1 lakh mobile subscribers. The net additions raised Airtel's mobile subscriber tally to 36.11 crore.

Vodafone Idea lost 15.68 lakh subscribers during the month, and its base slid to 25.9 crore in April.

Overall, TRAI data showed that India's total wireless subscribers count increased marginally to 114.3 crore at the end of April 2022.

Wireless subscription in urban areas decreased to 62.4 crore at the end of April, while subscription in rural markets inched up to 51.8 crore.

"Monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless subscription were -0.07 per cent and 0.20 per cent respectively," TRAI said.

On a month-on-month basis, the total broadband subscribers increased slightly to 78.87 crore at April-end.

Top five service providers constituted 98.4 per cent market share.

These service providers included Reliance Jio (41.1 crore), Bharti Airtel (21.5 crore), Vodafone Idea (12.2 crore).