Reliance Jio continued to lead the monthly mobile subscriber additions for the second month in a row, registering 2.17 million new users in March, according to the data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
Bharti Airtel, country’s second largest telco, added 1.25 million subscribers during the month.
After losing 20,720 subscribers in February, Vodafone Idea’s net customer churn increased to 541,377 in March, though it continues to be lower than the subscriber loss in January this year (1.34 million).
In March, state-owned operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) gained 49,177 subscribers, after losing 566,069 in February.
ALSO READTalks between Airtel, Tata for DTH deal over
As of March 31, Jio’s total subscriber base stood at 469.76 million. Airtel’s subscriber base stood at 389.8 million, Vodafone Idea had 205.36 million and BSNL had 91.06 million.
Overall, the mobile subscribers base rose by 3.21 million to 1.163 billion in March. Growth was led by the rural markets, which saw 4.86 million subscriber addition, while urban subscriber base declined by 1.64 million.
Jio’s market share rose marginally to 40.60% in March from 40.52% in February. Airtel’s share rose to 33.69%. Despite slowdown in monthly customer churn, Vodafone Idea continued to cede share at 17.75%. BSNL’s share also shrank marginally to 7.87%.
According to the regulator, active subscribers base accounted for 92.85% of the total wireless subscribers. The total active subscriber base rose to 1.074 billion in March as compared to 1.068 billion in February.
Among the operators, Airtel’s active subscribers base grew by 1.5 million to 389.68 million, whereas Jio’s active base was grew by 5.03 million to 451 million by the end of March.
ALSO READStarlink’s India entry a challenge for telecom majors? Key factors to watch…
Vodafone Idea’s active user base stood at 175.35 million, down by 0.04 million during the month. Fixed broadband subscribers grew 0.44% month-on-month to 41.39 million in March.
During the month, 13.54 million subscribers submitted their requests for mobile number portability (MNP) taking the cumulative MNP requests to 1,118.94 million, as compared to 1,105.39 million in February.
» Read More
