Telecom user base grows to 1.17 bn with Jio taking lead in new addition

Jio's wireless subscriber base grew to 41.3 cr with net addition of 42.23 lakh customers. It was followed by Airtel whose subscriber base increased to 36.29 cr with net addition of 7.93 lakh customers

Telecom subscriber base in the country grew marginally to 117.29 crore in June with Reliance Jio adding maximum number of new customers, according to data released by sector regulator Trai on Wednesday.

There were 117.07 crore subscribers in May 2022.

"The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,170.73 million at the end of May 2022 to 1,172.96 million at the end of June 2022, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.19 per cent," Trai said in the report.

The wireless subscriber base grew to 114.73 crore in June from 114.55 crore in May.

Reliance Jio's wireless subscriber base grew to 41.3 crore with net addition of 42.23 lakh customers. It was followed by Bharti Airtel whose subscriber base increased to 36.29 crore with net addition of 7.93 lakh customers.

Vodafone Idea continued to lose subscribers. Its subscriber base fell by 18 lakh to 25.66 crore.

State-run BSNL and MTNL also lost 13.27 lakh and 3,038 wireless customers respectively.

The wireline (fixed line) subscriber base grew to 2.55 crore in June from 2.52 crore in May with private players fuelling the growth.

Reliance Jio led the chart by adding 2.4 lakh new fixed line customers. It was followed by Vodafone Idea which added 84,760 new customers, Bharti Airtel 59,289 and Quadrant added 7,378 new customers.

BSNL was the biggest loser in the segment. The state-run telecom firm lost 32,038 fixed line customers. MTNL lost 16,548 customers and Tata Teleservices 8,248 customers.

The broadband subscriber base in the country crossed 80 crore with mobile connections accounting for 77.11 crore subscribers.

"Top five service providers constituted 98.47 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of June 2022. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (41.91 crore), Bharti Airtel (21.94 crore), Vodafone Idea (12.29 crore), BSNL (2.5 crore) and Atria Convergence (21.1 lakh)," the report said.