Telecom subscriber base rose marginally to 1.17 bn in December 2022

Telecom subscriber base rose marginally to 1,170.38 million in December 2022 on account of an increase in fixed line connections, according to official data.

The total subscriber base in the country was at 1,170.17 million in November last year.

"The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,170.18 million at the end of November to 1,170.38 million at the end of December, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.02 per cent," telecom regulator TRAI said in its monthly subscriber report for December 2022 released on Thursday.

Wireline subscribers increased to 27.45 million in December from 27.13 million in November, with a net increase of 0.32 million in the wireline subscriber base.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report showed that the growth in the wireline segment was driven by Reliance Jio with an addition of 2,92,411 new customers. Bharti Airtel added 1,46,643 new landline customers, BSNL (13,189) and Quadrant (6,355).

State-owned MTNL lost 1,10,168 fixed line customers in December while Vodafone Idea lost 15,920 fixed line customers, Reliance Communications (6,292) and Tata Teleservices (5,849).

The mobile subscriber base in the country declined marginally to 1,142.93 million in December from 1,143.04 million in November.

The growth in the wireless segment was adversely impacted with Vodafone Idea (VIL) losing 2.47 million subscribers.

While Reliance Jio and Bharti added 1.7 million and 1.52 million new customers, respectively, the loss of subscribers of VIL, BSNL (8,76,429), MTNL (3,450) and Reliance Communications (214) hindered the growth in the wireless segment.

The broadband subscriber base grew marginally to 832.2 million in December from 825.38 million in November, with mobile devices accounting for 798.69 million customers in the segment.

"Top five service providers constituted 98.41 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of December-22. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (432.16 million), Bharti Airtel (234.46 million), Vodafone Idea (123.87 million), BSNL (26.35 million) and Atria Convergence (2.14 million)," the report said.