Jio, Airtel, Vi continue to suffer customer losses for a third time

New Delhi: Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea—continued to suffer major customer losses for the third month in a row in September, even as state-run BSNL continued its addition spree, following the mobile tariffs hikes by the private telcos in early July.

As per data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for the month of September, Jio lost 7.9 million wireless customers, followed by Vodafone Idea which saw a decline of 1.5 million wireless customers and Bharti Airtel lost 1.4 million wireless users. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), was the only telco which added wireless customers in September as the state-run firm had not raised tariffs and is benefitting because users are shifting to the company. BSNL added 849,493 subscribers during the month.

The three private telcos had raised mobile rates in the range of 11-25% in early July and these firms have been seeing their user base decline after that.

At the end of September, the wireless user base of Jio declined to 463.78 million as compared to 471.74 million in August. Similarly, Airtel’s user base decreased to 383.48 million as compared to 384.91 million in August and Vodafone Idea’s base was down to 212.45 million as compared to 214 million in August.

In contrast, BSNL’s wireless base rose to 91.89 million as compared to 91.04 million in August.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea also reported a sharp drop in active user base, according to the Trai data for September. Airtel’s active subscriber base declined by 1.31 million to 380.68 million, while Vodafone Idea’s active user base fell by 3.11 million to 179.52 million in September. In contrast, Jio saw its active subscriber base rise by 1.73 million to 444.49 million during the reported period. BSNL also saw its active subscriber base increase to 54.77 million from 53.60 million in August.

Active, or visitor location register (VLR), data put out every month by Trai indicates the number of mobile users regularly using a mobile network.

On account of the tariff hike and the subsequent subscriber loss, total wireless subscribers fell to 1.153 billion in September from 1.169 billion at the end of August, registering a monthly decline of 0.87%. Wireless subscribers in urban areas decreased to 628.12 million in September from 633.21 million in August, while subscribers in rural areas decreased to 525.60 million in September from 530.63 million in August.

A huge subscriber loss led to Jio losing market share while Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL gained at its expense.

At the end of September, Reliance Jio continued to be the largest mobile operator with 40.20% share (40.53% in August), while Airtel had 33.24% (33.07% in August) and Vodafone Idea had 18.41% (18.39% in August). BSNL saw its market share improving to 7.98% in September, from 7.84% a month ago.

As per Trai data, Bharti Airtel and BSNL were the only operators to add high-speed 4G/5G subscribers in September. Airtel added 0.42 million 4G/5G users, bringing its subscriber base to 276.68 million, while BSNL added 1.5 million users, with its subscriber base increasing to 33.50 million in September. BSNL has commenced rollout of 4G services.