Reliance Jio grew exponentially, Airtel catching up – TRAI [March 2017 Report]

Now no more a new telecom operator, Reliance Jio continued its growth in Indian telecom sector. According to the latest Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) telecom subscription data as on March 2017, Jio added around 5.8 million new subscribers to its network. Thus taking its overall subscriber base to 108.68 million and maintaining its fourth position.

Catching up with Reliance Jio, India’s top telecom operator Airtel continued to lure new customers to its network. Airtel during the period added around 2.99 million subscribers to its network. Whereas Idea Cellular was able to bring in 2.09 million new subscribers to its network. What’s worth noting is that government owned telecom operator BSNL with 3G network in hand manage to add 2.07 million new subscribers to its network.

Highlights of Telecom Subscription (31st March 2017)

• The number of telephone subscribers in India touched 1,194.58 million with a monthly growth rate of 0.51 percent.
• The overall teledensity in India increased to 92.98 at the end of March 2017.
• Total wireless subscriber base which also includes the mobile subscribers in the country increased to 1,170.18 million.
• Private telecom operators hold 91.06 percent of Indian telecom market share. Whereas the two PSU telecom operators BSNL and MTNL have a market share of 8.94 percent. A marginal comeback by the government telecom operators.
• Reliance Jio adds the maximum number of subscribers to its network, followed by Airtel and Idea Cellular.
• On the losing side, Reliance Communication (RCom) lost around 2.7 million subscribers during this period.
• Airtel still holds the top position in India telecom sector with 23.39 percent market share. Followed by Vodafone India with 17.87 percent market share and Idea Cellular with 16.70 percent market share.
• Out of the total wireless subscriber base, 1,016.38 million wireless subscribers were active on the date of peak VLR in the month of March 2017.
• Jammu and Kashmir telecom circle showed maximum growth rate. Whereas Punjab telecom circle showed maximum decline rate in wireless subscribers during the month of March 2017.
• Wireline subscriber base which includes BSNL landline increased to 24.40 million.
• In the month of March 2017 alone a total of 6.03 million requests were received for Mobile number portability (MNP).
• The highest number of MNP requests till date have been received in Andhra Pradesh (about 24.63 million) followed by Rajasthan (about 23 million).

Highlights of Broadband Data (31st March 2017)

• The number of broadband subscribers, which include both mobile and wired subscribers increased to 276.52 million at the end of March 2017.
• Taking mobile broadband subscribers alone, Reliance Jio has around 108.68 million data subscribers. Whereas Airtel has only 47.04 million subscribers and Vodafone India at third with 37.71 million subscribers.
• On wired broadband connection, BSNL tops with 9.98 million subscribers, followed by Airtel with 2.08 million subscribers. BSNL extending the Rs 249 broadband plan and Airtel adding 100% more data to its broadband plans have made people take more wired connection.