Jio loses 12.9 mn wireless subs in Dec ‘21, Airtel gains 0.47 mn: Trai

Jio loses 12.9 mn wireless subs in Dec ‘21, Airtel gains 0.47 mn: Trai

Vodafone Idea also lost 1.6 million subscribers during the same period

Reliance Jio and Airtel

Mumbai: Reliance Jio lost as many as 12.9 million wireless subscribers in December 2021, according to subscription data provided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Vodafone Idea also lost 1.6 million subscribers.

However, Bharti Airtel emerged as a clear winner in December, as it went on to add 0.47 million subscribers during the same period, along with BSNL, which also saw wireless subscriber additions of 1.16 million.

The total number of wireless subscribers decreased from 1167.50 million to 1154.62 million. Wireless subscriptions in urban areas decreased from 638.46 million to 633.34 million while in rural areas it also decreased from 529.04 million to 521.28 million.

As per Trai data, Reliance Jio had 364.34 million active wireless subscribers followed by Bharti Airtel at 348.69 million and Vodafone Idea with 229.45.  

In December, Trai received information from 616 broadband operators compared to 592 operators in the previous month. The total broadband subscribers decreased from 801.60 million to 792.08 million.

In the broadband segment, wired subscribers increased from 24.42 million to 26.43 million, mobile device users decreased from 775.93 million to 764.52 million and fixed wireless subscribers decreased from 1.26 million to 1.13 million. The top five broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm at 420.28 million followed by Bharti Airtel at 210.07 million, Vodafone Idea at 122.62 million, BSNL at 25.54 million and Atria Convergence at 2.01 million.

The top five wired broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm at 4.57 million, Bharti Airtel at 4.20 million, BSNL at 4.07 million, Atria Convergence at 2.01 million and Hathway Cable and Datacom at 1.08 million. The top five wireless broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm at 415.72 million, Bharti Airtel at 205.87 million, Vodafone Idea at 122.14 million, BSNL at 21.47 million and Intech Online at 0.20 million.

The number of telephone subscribers decreased from 1191.05 million to 1178.41 million. Urban telephone subscription decreased from 660.08 million to 655.20 million and rural subscription also decreased from 530.96 million to 523.21 million during the same period.

During the period, wireline subscribers increased from 23.55 million to 23.79 million.