Sunil Mittal’s Airtel beats Mukesh Ambani’s Jio in…, but Jio grabs lead ahead of Airtel in…

While Reliance Jio maintained its lead in active user additions, Airtel demonstrated its strength in attracting high-value 4G/5G customers, solidifying its position in the premium segment.

In October 2024, Reliance Jio gained more active users than Bharti Airtel, but Airtel emerged as the leader in adding high-paying 4G/5G subscribers, according to the latest telecom subscriber data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea (Vi) continued to struggle, losing both active and mobile broadband users.

India’s largest telecom operator Reliance Jio lost 37.6 lakh wireless subscribers in October but spruced up its active mobile subscriber base by adding 38.47 lakh users, as per monthly data released by telecom regulator Trai on Monday.

Jio, Airetl, VI Active Users and Broadband Growth

Jio added 3.84 million active users during the month, surpassing Airtel’s 2.72 million additions. However, Airtel outpaced Jio in the critical 4G/5G segment, adding 2.08 million wireless broadband users. In contrast, Jio lost 3.76 million 4G/5G users, and Vi shed 0.92 million 3G/4G users.

 Overall, Bharti Airtel added 19.28 lakh users to its wireless coffers during the month and its active subscriber gains were about 27.23 lakh for October.

Vodafone Idea lost 19.77 lakh wireless subscribers and its active subscriber base fell nearly 7.23 lakh users.

5G Adoption and Competitive Landscape

Both Jio and Airtel have aggressively rolled out 5G services across India. As of the quarter ending September 2024, Jio had 148 million pure 5G users, while Airtel had 105 million. In contrast, Vi has yet to launch 5G services, putting it at a significant disadvantage in attracting high-value customers.

Subscriber Base Highlights

• Reliance Jio: Lost 3.76 million gross mobile subscribers, shrinking its total user base to 460 million.
• Airtel: Gained 1.92 million gross subscribers, increasing its user base to 385.41 million.
• Vodafone Idea: Lost 0.72 million active users, reducing its overall subscriber base to 210.47 million.

In addition to its mobile growth, Jio further solidified its dominance in the landline segment, expanding its lead in this space. Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea’s struggles highlight its ongoing challenges in competing with the two telecom giants.

Overall, so far as headline numbers are concerned, Reliance Jio’s total wireless tally slipped to 46 crore in October down from about 46.37 crore in September, although its active user base (a key monitorable for telcos) strengthened. The total wireless user base of Vodafone Idea fell to 21.04 crore in October from 21.24 crore in the previous month.

In all, the total number of active wireless subscribers in the month under review was 1,066.67 million (106.6 crore), as per Trai’s sectoral data. According to Trai release, the total broadband subscribers decreased to 941.47 million at the end of October 2024 with a monthly decline rate of 0.31 per cent.

“The number of total telephone subscribers in India decreased from 1,190.66 million at the end of September ’24 to 1,188.20 million at the end of October ’24, showing a monthly decline rate of 0.21 per cent. Urban telephone subscription decreased from 662.15 million at the end of Sep-24 to 660.42 million at the end of Oct-24 and the rural subscription also decreased from 528.51 million to 527.79 million during the same period,” Trai said.

The monthly decline rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were 0.26 per cent and 0.14 per cent, respectively, during October 2024, it added. 

(With Inputs From PTI)