Jio, Airtel gain subscribers in July, Voda Idea loses 14.3 lakh users: Trai data

Reliance Jio's wireless user base increased by over 65.1 lakh subscribers in July 2021, followed by the net addition of 19.4 lakh by Bharti Airtel, according to the latest data from regulator Trai.

Vodafone Idea lost 14.3 lakh subscribers in the month, while state-owned BSNL and MTNL lost 10.1 lakh and 5,874 users, respectively.

In percentage terms, Reliance Jio's wireless subscriber base grew 1.49 per cent, while Airtel's user base rose 0.55 per cent. MTNL and Voda Idea saw a 0.18 per cent and 0.52 per cent decline in their wireless subscriber base, respectively. BSNL user base shrunk 0.88 per cent.

The Trai data showed that Reliance Jio market share in terms of wireless subscribers as of July 31, 2021, was the highest at 37.34 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel at 29.83 per cent. Vodafone Idea's market share reduced to 22.91 per cent, followed by BSNL and MTNL at 9.64 per cent and 0.28 per cent, respectively.

Also read: Sunil Mittal suggests tarrifs must go up; calls for improvement in GST, licence fee

Overall telephone subscribers, comprising wireless and wireline connections, stood over 120.9 crore.

This includes 67 crore urban telephone subscribers and 53.8 crore rural telephone subscribers. The broadband subscribers, comprising wireless and wireline connections, stood at 80.8 crore, the Trai data showed.

Of the total wireless subscribers (118.6 crore), 98.9 crore were active on the date of peak VLR (visitor location register) in July 2021. "The proportion of active wireless subscribers were approximately 83.36% of the total wireless subscriber base," the report said.

Also read: Airtel hikes prices of plans offering Disney+Hotstar subscription

The Trai data further revealed that Bharti Airtel had the maximum proportion (97.74%) of its active wireless subscribers against its total wireless subscribers. MTNL had the minimum proportion of active wireless subscribers (19.81%) against its total wireless subscribers.

In terms of net additions, over 60.1 lakh wireless subscribers were added in the month. The wireline subscribers increased from 21.74 million at the end of June 2021 to 22.61 million at July-21 end, according to the Trai data.

The total broadband subscribers increased from 792.78 million at June-21 end to 808.60 million at July-21 end, with a monthly growth rate of 2 per cent.

The top five service providers in the broadband category comprised Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (446.68 million), Bharti Airtel (201.77 million), Vodafone Idea (123.97 million), BSNL (24.26 million) and Atria Convergence (1.93 million).

Also read: Voda Idea confident to reach fundraising deal with potential investors after govt package