Jio, Airtel up subscribers tally, Vi loses 1.82 mn users in Nov: Trai data

Telecom operators Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel cumulatively gained nearly 25 lakh mobile subscribers in November even as troubled Vodafone Idea lost nearly 18.3 lakh customers, according to data by sector regulator TRAI.

India's largest telco Reliance Jio cemented its lead in the market adding 14.26 lakh net subscribers in November, whereas Airtel added 10.56 lakh users.

At the end of November 2022, Jio's mobile subscriber tally stood at 42.28 crore, the levels rising from 42.13 crore during the previous month.

Bharti Airtel's subscriber gains pushed up mobile user count of the Sunil Mittal-led company to 36.60 crore in November.

In sharp contrast, cash-strapped Vodafone Idea lost 18.27 lakh subscribers during the month in reference, tempering its subscriber base to 24.37 crore in November.

As per TRAI data, the total broadband subscribers increased to 825.38 million at the end of November 2022 with a monthly growth rate of 0.47 per cent.

Top five service providers constituted over 98 per cent market share at the end of November 2022.

The list included Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (430.18 million), Bharti Airtel (230.56 million), Vodafone Idea (123.48 million), and BSNL (25.85 million), amongst others.

As on November 2022, the top five wired broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (7.38 million), Bharti Airtel (5.56 million), BSNL (4.02 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (2.14 million) and Hathway Cable & Datacom (1.13 million).

The top five wireless broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd (422.81 million), Bharti Airtel (225 million), Vodafone Idea (123.47 million), BSNL (21.83 million), and Intech Online Pvt. Ltd. (0.23 million), according to TRAI's latest subscription data.

Total wireless subscribers decreased to 1,143.04 million at the end of November 2022, from 1,143.63 million at the end of October 2022, sliding 0.05 per cent.

"Monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless subscription were 0.24 per cent and -0.39 per cent respectively," it said.