Private telecom companies in India lose over 1 crore mobile subscribers

Mumbai: Private telecom and internet service providers in India- Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea- cumulatively lost over one crore wireless subscribers in September. Meanwhile, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL)  added over 8.5 lakh mobile users in September. Data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) showed this.

Reliance Jio lost 79.69 lakh mobile subscribers in September compared to the previous month. , Bharti Airtel lost 14.34 lakh users mobile subscribers in September and Vodafone Idea lost 15.53 lakh users.

The wireless subscriber base of Reliance Jio stood at 46.37 crore in September, while that of Bharti Airtel was 38.34 crore. The wireless user base of Vodafone Idea was 21.24 crore as of September 2024. BSNL’s gains in September pushed its subscriber tally to 9.18 crore.

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The three private telcos had hiked mobile tariffs by 10-27 per cent in July. According to TRAI subscriber data, with the sole exception of Odisha, all other service areas showed a decline in their wireless subscribers during September 2024.

‘As per the information received from 1,167 operators in September 2024, in comparison to 1,219 operators in August 2024, the total Broadband Subscribers decreased from 949.21 million at the end of August-24 to 944.40 million at the end of September-24 with a monthly decline rate of 0.51 per cent,’ Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said.

As of September 30, 2024, Jio led the chart of broadband subscribers (wired and wireless) with a subscriber count of 47.7 crore, followed by Bharti Airtel (28.5 crore), and Vodafone India (12.6 crore). BSNL was fourth in that list with a subscriber count of 3.7 crore.

India’s total wireless subscribers decreased to 1,153.72 million at the end of September 2024, thereby registering a monthly decline rate of 0.87 per cent. The monthly decline rate of urban and rural wireless subscriptions was 0.80 per cent and 0.95 per cent, respectively.