Voda Idea loses subscribers as Jio, Airtel strengthen user tally in September: TRAI data

New Delhi, November 22

India’s total mobile subscriber base fell by 3.6 million in September, with Vodafone Idea suffering subscriber count decline even as larger rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel added users month-on-month, according to telecom regulator’s data.

India’s largest mobile operator Jio further cemented its position in the market, adding 7.2 lakh wireless subscriber during September, while Bharti Airtel increased its mobile users’ tally by 4.12 lakh.

Notably, while Jio led peers in September subscriber additions, its net adds this time were lower than 32.81 lakh subscribers the telco had gained in August.

Ailing Vodafone Idea faced subscriber count decline (by 40 lakh), its base shrank to 24.91 crore during September.

“Total wireless subscribers decreased from 1,149.11 million at the end of August-22, to 1,145.45 million at the end of September-22, thereby registering a monthly decline rate of 0.32 per cent,” Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said releasing subscription data for September.

Overall, the telephone subscribers number in India (mobile and fixed-line together) decreased to about 117.19 crore at the end of September 2022, translating to monthly decline rate of 0.27 per cent.

TRAI said the total broadband subscribers rose to 81.6 crore at the end of September 2022, with a monthly growth rate of 0.28 per cent.

Top five service providers constituted 98.36 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of September 2022.

“These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm (426.80 million), Bharti Airtel (225.09 million), Vodafone Idea (123.20 million), BSNL (25.62 million) and Atria Convergence (2.14 million),” TRAI said.