In Short:
In August, Reliance Jio lost 4.01 million subscribers, Bharti Airtel lost 2.4 million, and Vodafone Idea lost 1.8 million due to tariff hikes of 11-25% in July. In contrast, BSNL gained 2.5 million users, benefiting from not raising its prices. Overall, the total wireless subscribers decreased from 1.169 billion to 1.163 billion, with BSNL improving its market share.
Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea experienced significant customer attrition for the second consecutive month in August, a situation prompted by a substantial hike in headline tariffs earlier in July, as reported by the telecom regulator.
In August, Reliance Jio recorded a loss of 4.01 million subscribers, while Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea lost 2.4 million and 1.8 million subscribers, respectively. This decline follows the aforementioned increase in tariffs, which ranged from 11% to 25% in July.
BSNL Sees Subscriber Growth
In contrast, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), which opted not to raise its tariffs, was the sole telecom operator to gain subscribers during this period, adding 2.5 million subscribers.
The subscriber losses resulted in a decrease in Jio’s total user base to 471.74 million in August, down from 475.76 million in July. Similarly, Airtel’s user base fell from 387.32 million to 384.91 million, and Vodafone Idea’s total dropped to 214 million from 215.88 million.
Impact on Active Users
Additionally, data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) indicated a notable decline in the active user base of the three private operators following the tariff increase. Airtel’s active user base diminished by 1.67 million, reaching 381.99 million, while Jio’s active users decreased by 2.6 million to 181.63 million during the same period. However, Jio did report an increase in its active user base, which rose to 442.76 million, with an addition of 2.03 million subscribers as of August 31.
Active, or visitor location register (VLR), data released by TRAI on a monthly basis reflects the number of mobile users consistently utilizing a mobile network.
Overall Wireless Subscriber Trends
The tariff increases and subsequent subscriber losses contributed to a reduction in the total wireless subscriber count, which fell from 1.169 billion at the end of July to 1.163 billion at the end of August, marking a monthly decline of 0.49%. Wireless subscribers in urban regions decreased from 635.46 million to 633.21 million, while those in rural areas diminished to 530.63 million from 534.15 million.
This subscriber loss led to a market share decline for all three private telecom operators. Reliance Jio maintained its status as the largest mobile operator with a market share of 40.53% (down from 40.68% in July), followed by Airtel at 33.07% (down from 33.12%), and Vodafone Idea at 18.39% (down from 18.46%). In contrast, BSNL saw an improvement in its market share, rising to 7.84% from 7.59% the previous month.
Growth in 4G/5G Subscribers
According to TRAI data, Bharti Airtel and BSNL were the only operators to gain high-speed 4G/5G subscribers in August. Airtel added 0.38 million 4G/5G users, increasing its subscriber base to 276.26 million. BSNL, while not yet commercially rolling out 4G services, added 6.58 million 3G users, raising its total to 32 million in August.
In a notable development, the fixed wireless access user base experienced a 9.39% increase in August, reaching 0.91 million users, as reported by TRAI.
