Reliance Jio adds 2.9 mn users in July; Vi loses 1.5 mn

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio added 2.9 million users in July 2022 as compared to a record 4.2 million in June 2022. India's second-largest telco Bharti Airtel was way behind but added 5.13 lakh users in the month. All other telcos -- Vodafone Idea, BSNL, MTNL and Reliance Communication – lost users in the month, shows the latest data by TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India).

While Vodafone Idea lost 1.5 million users in the month, government PSUs – BSNL and MTNL – lost 8.1 lakh and 4.6 lakh users, respectively. Reliance Communication also lost 69 users.

As of July 31, 2022, Reliance Jio's market share was 36.23%, while Airtel stood second at 31.66%. Vodafone Idea's share stands at 22.22%, while BSNL's share is 9.64%.

With the 5G spectrum auction now over, the telcos are gearing up for the formal launch of the super-fast internet services in India. While Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has said Reliance Jio will launch Jio 5G in India’s major cities by Diwali 2022, Airtel plans 5G rollout in a month. It also aims to cover key metro cities by December 2022.

Reliance Jio, meanwhile, commanded the largest wireless subscriber base at 41,59,600,83 (41.5 crore) users as of July 31, 2022, followed by Bharti Airtel at 36,34,817,65 subscribers. The wireless subscriber base for Vodafone Idea stood at 25,510,27,03 at the end of July 31, 2022. Meanwhile, BSNL’s wireless user base shrank to 11,06,34,926.

As of July 31, 2022, the private access service providers held a 90.12% market share while telecom PSUs -- BSNL and MTNL -- accounted for a market share of only 9.88%.

Total wireless subscribers in the country increased to 1,148.03 million at the end of July 2022 from 1,147.39 million in June 2022, marking a monthly growth rate of 0.06%.

Wireless subscriptions in urban areas increased from 625.49 million at the end of June 2022 to 626.74 million at the end of July 2022, however, wireless subscriptions in rural areas decreased from 521.90 million to 521.29 million during the same period. Monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless subscriptions were 0.20% and -0.12%, respectively.

Out of the total 1,148.03 million wireless subscribers, around 88.25% or 1,013.18 million were active on the date of peak VLR in July 2022. Bharti Airtel has the maximum proportion -- 97.99% -- of its active wireless subscribers (VLR) as against its total wireless subscribers (HLR).

As of July 31, 2022, the wireline subscribers increased from 25.57 million at the end of June 2022 to 25.63 million at the end of July 2022, around a 0.24% rise. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers was 92.31% and 7.69%, respectively, at the end of July 2022.

The overall wireline teledensity in India by July 31, 2022, stands remained the same as June i.e. 1.86%.

In terms of broadband network, the total subscribers increased from 800.94 million at the end of June 2022 to 807.42 million at the end of July 2022, recording a growth rate of 0.81%. The top five service providers constituted 98.42% market share in this category. These were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (422.23 million), Bharti Airtel (222.12 million), Vodafone Idea (122.98 million), BSNL (25.25 million) and Atria Convergence (2.13 million).