Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have emerged as the top telecom operators in the country, according to the latest data from TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India). Jio and Airtel collectively added more than 19 lakh mobile subscribers in February. During the month under review, Jio added 10,04,797 mobile subscribers as against 16,58,448 subscribers in January. Airtel added 9,82,554 mobile subscribers in February as against 1,281,822 mobile subscribers in January.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea lost 20,01,388 mobile subscribers during the month under review as against 14,81,071 mobile subscribers in January. BSNL and MTNL lost 10,40, 161 and 2,732 mobile subscribers in February, respectively.

The total mobile subscribers decreased from 11, 430 lakh at the end of January, to 11,419 lakh at the end of February, thereby registering a monthly decline rate of 0.09%, according to TRAI. The mobile subscription in urban areas plunged from 6271.3 lakh at the end of January to 6,263.7 lakh at the end of February and, mobile subscriptions in rural areas also dipped from 5,158.9 lakh to 5,156 lakh during the same period. The number of active mobile subscribers during the month under review stood at 10,275.9 lakh.

During the month under review, the private access service providers held a 90.63% market share of the mobile subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 9.37%. Amongst the private telecom operators, Jio held a market share of 37.41%, followed by Airtel at 32.9% and Vodafone Idea at 20.84%.

In the broadband services segment, the total subscribers marginally to 8,393.3 lakh in February, as against 8391.8 lakh subscribers in January. During the month under review, the top five service providers constituted 98.38% market share. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd 4,352 lakh, Bharti Airtel 2,397 lakh, Vodafone Idea 1,237.4 lakh, BSNL 249.2 lakh and Atria Convergence 21.4 lakh. Jio commanded a 51.85% market share in broadband services, followed by Bharti Airtel at 28.56%. Vodafone Idea had a market share of 14.74% in the broadband category.

During the month under review, the top five wired broadband service providers were Jio at 80.2 lakh, Airtel at 59.8 lakh, BSNL at 35.4 lakh, Atria Convergence Technologies at 21.4 lakh and Hathway Cable & Datacom at 11.3 lakh. The top five wireless broadband service providers were Jio at 4,271.8 lakh, Airtel at 2,337.4 lakh, Vodafone Idea at 1,237.4 lakh, BSNL at 213.8 lakh and Intech Online Pvt. Ltd. at 2.3 lakh.

Meanwhile, the number of wireline subscribers increased from 277.3 lakh at the end of January to 279.7 lakh at the end of February. The net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 2.4 lakh with a monthly growth rate of 0.85%. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 92.23% and 7.77% respectively at the end of February, 2023. BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, held 33.66% of the wireline market. Jio had the wireline market share at 31.49%, followed by BSNL at 25.25% and Airtel at 25.03%.

The total number of telephone subscribers, however, dipped from 11,707.5 lakh at the end of January to 11,699.3 lakh at the end of February, thereby showing a monthly decline rate of 0.82%. Urban telephone subscriptions decreased from 6,527.2 lakh at the end of January to 6,521.6 lakh at the end of February and the rural subscription also decreased from 5180.3 lakh to 5,177.7 lakh during the same period.

Mobile subscribers in India

Jio, Airtel add 19.8 lakh mobile subscribers in Feb; Vodafone loses 20 lakh users: TRAI