Private Telco Subscriber Base Shrinks

21 Nov 2024 , 02:44 PM

Even as state-run BSNL continued its addition binge, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea suffered significant customer losses for the third consecutive month in September as a result of the private telcos’ hikes in mobile pricing in early July.

According to figures given by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for the month of September, Jio lost 7.9 million wireless customers, Vodafone Idea lost 1.5 million, and Bharti Airtel lost 1.4 million.

Since the state-run company had not increased pricing and was gaining from people switching to it, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) was the sole telco to add wireless customers in September. Over the course of the month, BSNL added 849,493 subscribers.

Early in July, the three private telecoms increased their mobile prices by 1–25%, and since then, their user bases have been declining.

Jio’s wireless subscriber base fell from 471.74 million in August to 463.78 million at the end of September. In a similar vein, Vodafone Idea’s user base dropped to 212.45 million from 214 million in August, while Airtel’s user base dropped to 383.48 million from 384.91 million.

On the other hand, BSNL’s wireless base increased from 91.04 million in August to 91.89 million.

According to the September Trai data, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea also reported a significant decline in the number of active users. In September, Vodafone Idea’s active user base dropped 3.11 million to 179.52 million, while Airtel’s active subscriber base dropped 1.31 million to 380.68 million.

On the other hand, during the reported period, Jio’s active user base increased by 1.73 million to 444.49 million. Additionally, BSNL’s active subscriber count grew from 53.60 million in August to 54.77 million.

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