Jio adds record 4.2 mn users in June; Airtel lags

Reliance Jio, after an extensive clean-up of low-value users, added a record 4.2 million subscribers in June 2022 as compared to 3.1 million user additions in May 2022.

Sunil Mittal-led India's second biggest telco Bharti Airtel added 7.93 lakh users in June 2022, while the month added to the woes of MTNL, BSNL, and cash-strapped Vodafone Idea, which lost 3,038, 1.3 million and 1.8 million subscribers, respectively, shows data shared by industry watchdog Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday.

With this, Reliance Jio commands the largest wireless subscriber base at 41,30,10,694 users as of June 30, 2022, followed by Bharti Airtel at 36,29,68,293 subscribers. The wireless subscriber base for Vodafone Idea stood at 25,66,456,22 at the end of June 2022. Meanwhile, BSNL’s user base shrank to 11,14,54,386 users.

In terms of wireless market share, Reliance Jio holds the pole position at 36%, followed by Airtel at 31.63% and Vodafone Idea at 22.37%. BSNL and MTNL hold 9.72% and 0.28% market share.

As of June 30, 2022, the private access service providers held 90% market share while telecom PSUs -- BSNL and MTNL -- accounted for a market share of only 10%.

Total wireless subscribers in the country increased to 1,147.39 million in June from 1,145.50 million in May, marking a marginal monthly growth rate of 0.16% or 1.9 million users.

Wireless subscriptions in urban areas during this period increased to 625.49 million from 624.55 million. Wireless subscriptions in rural areas also saw a rise, growing to 521.90 million in June 2022 from 520.96 million in May 2022. Monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless subscriptions were 0.15% and 0.18%, respectively, shows the TRAI data.

Of the total 1,147.39 million wireless subscribers, 1017.56 million wireless subscribers were active on the date of peak VLR in June 2022, the data reveals.

Total broadband subscribers in India, serviced by 666 operators in June, saw a growth of 0.79% to 800.94 million, compared with 794.68 million in May.

The top five service providers accounted for 98.47% market share of the total broadband subscribers in June 2022. These are Reliance Jio (419.17 million), Bharti Airtel (219.41 million), Vodafone Idea (122.96 million), and BSNL (25.02 million) and Atria Convergence (2.11 million). As of June 2022, these operators had market shares of 52.33%, 27.39%, 15.35%, 3.12%, and 0.26%, respectively.

The telcos are now gearing up for the launch of ultra-fast 5G services, with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel leading the race. Airtel yesterday said it has paid four years of 2022 spectrum dues upfront to the government.

The telco, which was one of the main contenders during the recently concluded 5G spectrum auctions, paid ₹8,312.4 crore to the Department of Telecom (DoT) towards dues for spectrum acquired. A news agency, citing sources, claimed that apart from Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and Adani Data Networks have also paid the upfront payments of around Rs 17,876 crore for the acquired 5G spectrum.