According to the latest data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Reliance Jio has continued its winning streak as it added 32.8 lakh, new subscribers, to its already large base.
Bharti Airtel also saw a rise in its subscriber base as it brought in 3.2 lakh new users. However, Vodafone continued to be on its losing spree as it lost 19.5 lakh subscribers. Same as of July 2022, Jio maintained its position as the market leader while Vodafone kept losing its customers.
As on 31st August 2022, the subscriber base (wireless) of Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone were 41.9 crores, 36.4 crores, and 25.3 crores respectively. Furthermore, the market shares of the telcos also saw some movement as Jio's share grew to 36.48%, Airtel remained flat at 31.66% while Vodafone's slipped to 22.03%.
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Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), which is struggling to be competent, lost 5.7 lakh users in August. However, this month's customer loss was significantly lower than last month's outflow of 8.2 lakh. In a surprising turn of events, Jio overtook BSNL's position as the country's largest landline operator.
Jio added 2.6 lakh, new wireline users, bringing its total wireline user base to 73.5 lakh, dethroning BSNL, who lost over 15,000 wireline users during the month. Airtel is third in the country with a wireline user base of 62 lakh.
BSNL's subscriber base has been eroding even after the government announced a Rs 1.64 lakh crores revival package for the same to improve its balance sheet, restructure debt and merge it with BBNL.
Vodafone Idea has also been steadily losing subscribers. Its active user share has declined from 23.08% in August 2021 to 22.03% this year. This is a sign of the company's liquidity issues which are hampering the distressed telco's ability to invest in 5G opportunities.
On the other hand, Jio, which has been adding subscribers consistently and accumulating market share, is all set to improve its holding in the Indian market. The company has significant investment plans on hand as it recently signed Ericsson and Nokia to build its SA 5G network.
The shares of Vodafone and Airtel currently trade around Rs 8.55 and Rs 781.90 per share.
Article by Aman Agarwal.
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