BSNL, Jio Added New Users While Airtel, Vodafone Lost Users; Jio Is #1 Telco In India

As per the report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI),  Reliance Jio and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) gained users while Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea lost its subscribers in March. 

Read on to find out more…

Rural Areas Registers A Higher Overall Telco Subscriber Base!

The TRAI report pointing out the Telecom Subscription Data as on March 31, 2020 said that India had 989.10 million active wireless subscribers.

The total number of telephone subscribers in India is said to have taken a dip from 1,180.84 million in February to 1,177.97 million in March 31, 2020. 

The overall tele-density in India has also plunged from 87.66% at the end of February to 87.37% as of March 31, 2020.

On the other hand, TRAI report suggests that the rural areas are said to have registered a rise in the overall subscriber base from 519.62 million as of February to 521.51 million as of March.

The rural tele-density is said to have escalated from 58.61% in February to 58.79% in March. The rural wireless tele-density has also seen a rise from 58.35% in February to 58.54% in March.

Similar pattern is witnessed in the wireless subscriber base with the rural areas recording an increase from 517.34 million in February to 519.27 million in March. 

Vodafone, Airtel, MTNL Lose Subscribers!

Reliance Jio continues to top the charts as the country’s top cellular provider with a market share of 33.47%. 

The TRAI report states that Reliance Jio added around 4.7 million subscribers while BSNL added 95,428 subscribers in March. 

On the other hand, Vodafone Idea subscriber base had declined by 6.3 million subscribers in March while Airtel has lost around 1.26 million users. Furthermore, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) is said to have lost 4,645 subscribers.

After Jio, Airtel with a 28.31% market share has emerged as the second largest telco with Vodafone Idea at its tail with a market share of 27.57%. BSNL accounts for 10.35% market share as of March.

The TRAI calculated data for active subscribers based on the proportion between visitor location register (VLR) and home location register (HLR). The VLR represents the subscribers roaming into one particular network at a given time. The importance of VLR data is such that  the subscriber can be present at a single network at any point of time.

The data suggested that Bharti Airtel has the maximum proportion of active subscribers at 96.18% and MTNL with a minimum proportion of 25.37% in March. Vodafone Idea has the second largest number of active subscriber base at 92% followed by Reliance Jio at 80.93% and BSNL at 54.81%