When the telecom industry in India having a negative growth, government owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is gaining over its competition. With a strong monthly growth rate, BSNL rises to become the fourth largest telecom operator in India.
With a net addition of 16.46 lakh new mobile subscribers during the month of August 2016 the state-run operator has gained a market share of 8.98 percent. Thus beating out Reliance Communication (RCom) from its fourth place. Well, it needs to be seen how long the government operator can stick to the fourth place. RCom has already in the middle of acquiring Aircel and Sistema (MTNL), which will probably push it to become the third largest telecom operator in India by early next year.
According to the latest telecom subscription data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as on 31st August 2016, the number of telephone subscribers in India has declined to 1053.40 million. That’s a decrease of 5.45 million subscribers or 0.52 percent from the previous month (July 2016). However, mobile number portability or MNP requests increased during the same period to a total of 234.47 million requests at the end of August 2016.
Highlights of Telecom Subscription Data (31st August 2016)
- The urban telecom subscription declined from 610.22 million at the end of July 2016 to 606.46 million at the end of August 2016. Whereas the rural subscription declined from 448.63 million to 446.94 million during the same period.
- The overall tele-density in India declined to 82.54 at the end of August 2016.
- Counting the wireless subscriber base which also includes the mobile subscribers in the country. A decline in subscribers from 1,034.23 million at the end of July 2016 to 1,028.88 million at the end of August 2016.
- Private telecom operators hold 90.67 percent of Indian telecom market share. Whereas the two PSU telecom operators BSNL and MTNL have a market share of 9.33 percent.
- BSNL added the maximum number of subscribers to its network, followed by Airtel and Vodafone.
- On the losing side, RCom lost around 84.06 lakh subscribers during this period. It mainly due to their sudden closure of CDMA business and launching, not a full-fledged Reliance 4G.
- Airtel still holds the throne of the largest telecom operator in India with 25.03 percent market share. Followed by Vodafone India with 19.46 percent market share and Idea Cellular with 17.19 percent market share.
- Wireline subscriber base declined from 24.62 million at the end of July 2016 to 24.51 million at the end of August 2016. The government owned telcos BSNL and MTNL are the one’s losing its subscribers, whereas private telcos Airtel and Vodafone are gaining over them.
Highlights of Broadband Data (31st August 2016)
- The number of broadband subscribers, which include both mobile and wired subscribers increased to 171.71 million at the end of August 2016.
- On combined broadband subscribers and taking mobile subscribers alone, Airtel tops the chart with 45.35 million subscribers. Vodafone India stands second with 35.01 million subscribers, followed by Idea cellular with 29.58 million subscribers.
- On wired broadband connection BSNL tops with 9.84 million subscribers, followed by Airtel with 1.91 million subscribers.