According to TRAI data, the number of telecom subscribers in the country grew marginally to 1,191.05 million at the end of November, with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel expanding their user base. Reliance Jio has also toppled BSNL as the top fixed line subscriber and now leads the 4.34 million customer segment dominated by state telecom since its inception about 20 years ago.
The total wireless customer base in the country stood at 1,167.5 million at the end of November, according to a monthly subscriber report published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Both wireless and wired connections showed growth during the month.
“The total number of wireless subscribers increased from 1,166.30 million at the end of October 2021 to 1,167.50 million at the end of November 2021, recording a monthly growth rate of 0.10 percent,” the TRAI report said.
Reliance Jio led the growth in the mobile segment with a net increase of 20,19,362 customers, bringing its total subscriber base to more than 428 million.
Bharti Airtel added 13,18,251 new mobile subscribers.
Vodafone Idea (VIL) continued to lose subscribers. The company lost 18,97,050 customers in November and total subscribers dropped to 267.12 million.
The state telecom companies BSNL and MTNL also failed to acquire customers in November. BSNL lost 2,40,062 mobile customers while MTNL lost 4,318 connections.
Fixed-line connections in the country rose to 23.55 million in November from 23.32 million in October, with private players Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel in the lead.
Reliance Jio added 207,114, Bharti added 130,902 and Quadrant added 8,287 new fixed-line customers, while dominant segment player BSNL lost 77,434 customers in November. VIL lost 38,083 regular customers, Reliance Communications 2,373, Tata Teleservices 2019 and MTNL 1,828 customers.
The number of broadband subscribers in the country grew to 801.6 million in November, from 798.95 million in October, with Reliance Jio maintaining its lead in the segment.
Reliance Jio’s broadband fixed line customer base grew from 4.16 million in October to 4.34 million.
BSNL’s customer base declined from 4.72 million in October to 4.2 million in November. Bharti Airtel fixed line broadband customer base stood at 4.08 million in November.
“The top five service providers made up 98.68 percent of total broadband subscribers at the end of November,” according to TRAI.
Reliance Jio’s total broadband subscriber base was 432.96 million in November. It was followed by Bharti Airtel with 210.10 million broadband customers, VIL 122.40 million, BSNL 23.62 million and Atria Convergence broadband customer base was 1.98 million.
