Broadband
ACT still leads in wired sub addition, Idea & BSNL lose wireless subs
BENGALURU: Atria Convergence Technologies Pvt. Ltd (ACT) continued to lead in wired broadband internet subscribers additions in calendar year 2017 (CY-17) until 30April 2017 (Apr-17) as per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). ACT added 70,000 subscribers, of which 20,000 were added inApril 2017 followed by Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) and You Broadband which added 10,000 subscribers each during the same period.
The MukeshDhirubhaiAmbani led Reliance Industries Limited juggernaut Reliance JioInfocom Limited (Jio) continued as the company with the largest wireless broadband internet subscriber base in the country – all of it being wireless so far. Having overtaken the incumbent biggest wireless broad band internet player until Oct-16, Airtel, Jio had a subscriber base of 112.55 million (1125.5 lakh) in Apr-17. Its peers in the wireless internet space – Idea and BSNLbled subscribers. Idea Cellular lost 2.95 million (29.5 lakh) subscribers in the month of April 2017, while BSNL lost 1.22 million (12.2 lakh) subscribers during the same period.
1.1 lakh (0.11 million) wired broadband internet subscribers were added in CY-17 as per TRAI data. Among the wireline ISP’s,BSNL is the biggest player by far with 99.7 lakh subscribers. BSNL lost 10,000 wired broadband subscribers in CY-17.The second largest wireline ISP in India is Airtel, which closed Apr-17 with 20.9 lakh wireline subscribers, after adding just 10,000 subscribers to its wireline internet subscriber base during Apr-17 and 50,000 in CY-17. The third largest wireline broadband internet services provider was regional private player ACT Broadband with a subscriber base of 11.9 lakh at the end of Apr-18. The government run Mahanagar Sanchar Nigam Limited (MTNL) lost 40,000 subscribers in CY-17 and had a subscriber base of 10 lakh at the end of Apr-17. The fifth player in the list of top five wireline broadband internet service providers in the country is another regional player – You Broadband or You BB. The minnow’s subscriber base grew by 10,000 to 0.63 million (6.3 lakh) in Apr-17 vis-à-vis Mar-17. Please refer to the figure below:
The wireless broadband internet subscriber basein India in CY-17 grew 22.12 percent (48.07 million) from 217.36million to 265.43million in Apr-17. It was 251.71 million in Mar-17. During the same period, the wireless broadband subscriber base of the top five service providers grew by 52.09 million, indicating in general that though the overall wireless subscriber base grew, a number of subscribers switched loyalties and moved to 4 of the 5 top players – (Idea Cellular has lost subscribers, the other 4 players have gained in CY-2017).
The top five service wireless internet service providers subscriber base grew 3.44 percent (52.9 million) between Mar-17 and Apr-17. The top five wireless service providers constituted 88.04 percent market share (87.48 percent in Mar-17) of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Apr-17. These service providers were Jio(112.55 million), Airtel (52.25 million), Vodafone (39.76 million), Idea Cellular (24.09 million) and BSNL (21.58 million).
Please refer to the figure below for subscriber base of top 5 wireless broadband internet service providers:
Among the top 5 wireless broadband internet services providers in the country, Jio has shown the highest growth. Please refer to the figure below for growth of top 5 wireless broadband internet service providers in the country:
Notes: (1) The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used at some places in this paper/charts to denote numerical values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
(a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
(b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.
(2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to 2 decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.51 million (5.1 lakh) subscribers for You BB for Dec-2015 would be granular to the nearest 10,000. While percentages have been mentioned up to two decimal places, the accuracy may vary, depending upon the exact number.
(3) MSOs’ have a number of subsidiaries and alliances, hence broadband numbers are split as applicable. The consolidated subscription numbers of these entities could be larger. Hathway is a case in point.
Broadband
ACT Fibernet elevates Aditya Singh to chief customer experience officer
Former senior vp to drive service, retention and delivery revamp
BENGALURU: ACT Fibernet has elevated Aditya Singh to chief customer experience officer, effective 1 January, 2026, as the broadband provider seeks to tighten its grip on service quality in an increasingly competitive market.
Singh, who previously served as senior vice-president – customer experience and loyalty at group level, will now join the executive committee and lead the company’s end-to-end customer transformation agenda.
The move gives him oversight of customer service, customer retention and service delivery, alongside a broader mandate to strengthen network resilience and field operations. The company said the reshuffle underlines its intent to deliver a “consistent, seamless and superior” experience to its 2.3m subscribers across more than 30 cities.
Headquartered in Bengaluru, ACT Fibernet, the consumer-facing brand of Atria Convergence Technologies Limited, is one of India’s largest wired internet service providers. It has built its pitch on high-speed connectivity and responsive customer support, at a time when fibre roll-outs and price wars are redrawing the broadband map.
In a statement, Singh said he was “deeply honoured” to take on the expanded brief and join the executive committee as the company sharpens its focus on simplifying customer touchpoints and turning subscribers into brand advocates.
The elevation signals a clear priority: in a crowded fibre market, customer experience is fast becoming the decisive battleground.
