Telecom Stats Oct 2016: Reliance Jio Added 19.6 Mln New Subscribers; Total Reaches 1078.62 Mln!
It would not be too wrong to say that Reliance Jio has completely ruled the new subscriber additions since the time it launched – and numbers prove it. Reliance Jio launched their services in September, and in first 3 weeks of the launch they notched up close to 16 million subscribers. In the month of October, they have added even more bettering their own record at 19.6 million.
According to the TRAI’s October report, a total of 28.68 new mobile connections were taken, taking the total number to 1078.42 million.
Jio, within first 53 days of launch notched up a total of 35.61 million subscribers. To put this number in perspective, all telecom operators put together added 24.84 million subscribers since Jan 2016.
Interestingly, Idea Cellular also registered some stellar numbers, probably their best monthly additions ever – They added 6.337 million new connections in the month of October 2016.
You can clearly see how new mobile connections have shot up in September and October.
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Active Mobile Subscriber Base
Interestingly, active subscriber base grew relatively moderately at 21.3 million, which also shows that many Jio subscribers did not use their numbers, even after they had unlimited calling and free data offering. This does not look like a good sign for Jio.
In October, a total of 970.47 mln connections were active as compared to 949.17 million in the previous month.
Here is a chart comparing Active Vs Total Subscriber base growth
Mobile Subscriber Growth Highlights [October 2016]
– With an increase of 28.68 mln in Oct 2016, total mobile connections reached 1078.42 million. India had 1028.88 million connections by end of September 2016.
– Urban India witnessed a monthly growth rate of 2.97 percent or additions of 17.96 mln new connections, while rural mobile connections increased by 2.40 percent or 10.76 mln.
– Urban India has a total of 621.77 million, while rural India has a total of 456.66 million mobile connections.
– Rural India added 17.55 mln connections since Jan 2016, while Urban India added 34.22 mln
– Reliance Jio bettered their own record for monthly additions, adding 19.61 million connections in October 2016
– Urban Teledensity increased to 155.35 from 151.10 in September 2016, while the rural teledensity increased to 51.98 from previous 50.80.
– Urban mobile subscriber share stands at 57.66% as compared 42.34% of rural subscribers.
– 4.93 million new Mobile portability requests were made in the month of Oct 2016, taking the total tally of MNP requests since launch to 239.46 mln.
– Active Mobile connections increased from 949.17 million in Sept 2016 to 970.47 million in Oct 2016, taking the active percentage to 89.99 percent.
– Delhi remained the circle with the highest teledensity of 236.38, while Bihar has the lowest at 56.91. The all-India teledensity currently stands at 86.25.
– Total broadband (> 512 Kbps) subscribers increased from 192.30 Million at the end of Sep- 16 to 218.42 million at the end of Oct-16 with a monthly growth rate of 13.59%.
– Out of 218.42 million broadband users in India, 199.90 million access internet through mobile devices or dongles.
Operator Wise Subscriber Additions [Oct 2016]
When it came to new additions, Jio bettered their own record from the previous month. Idea Cellular also had probably their best ever month adding over 6.3 million new connections. Bharti Airtel added 2.3 mln new connections followed by BSNL (1.19 Mln) and BSNL (1.18 Mln).
The operator that fared worst was Tata, who lost over 1.3 million connections followed by Reliance who lost close to 1 million subscribers.
Top 9 Mobile Operators in Numbers
| Sr. No | Telecom Operator | Total Subscriber Count ( till Oct 2016) | New Subscriber Additions since Jan 2016 ( in Mln) |
| 1 | Bharti Airtel | 262267596 | 18.975 |
| 2 | Vodafone | 201900901 | 8.297 |
| 3 | Idea Cellular | 185153929 | 13.239 |
| 4 | Reliance Communication | 86167084 | -14.725 |
| 5 | BSNL | 94952784 | 12.441 |
| 6 | Aircel | 90344161 | 4.705 |
| 7 | Tata | 55700811 | -5.204 |
| 8 | Telewings / Telenor | 53264664 | 2.513 |
| 9 | Reliance Jio | 35611874 | 35.611 |
Source: TRAI
