With the free ride coming to a full stop, due to the introduction of monthly paid plans, Reliance Jio exponential growth seems to be slowing down. According to the latest Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) telecom subscription data as on April 2017, Jio managed to add only 3.87 million new subscribers to its network. That’s almost 2 million subscribers less when compared to March 2017 data.
Still, Reliance Jio outperformed incumbent telcos, by adding the maximum number of subscribers to its network during the month. India’s top telecom operator Airtel was able to bring around 2.85 million new subscribers to its network. Whereas government owned telecom operator BSNL showed a steady growth and during the month of April added 0.8 million new subscribers to its network.
Highlights of Telecom Subscription (30th April 2017)
- The number of telephone subscribers in India touched 1,198.89 million with a monthly growth rate of 0.36 percent.
- Total wireless subscriber base which also includes the mobile subscribers in the country increased to 1,174.60 million.
- Private telecom operators hold 91.02 percent of Indian telecom market share. Whereas the two PSU telecom operators BSNL and MTNL have a market share of 8.98 percent. A marginal comeback by the government telecom operators.
- Reliance Jio adds the maximum number of subscribers to its network, followed by Airtel and BSNL.
- On the losing side, Tata lost around 1.4 million subscribers followed by Reliance Communication (RCom) by around 1.3 million subscribers.
- Airtel still holds the top position in India telecom sector with 23.54 percent market share. Followed by Vodafone India with 17.86 percent market share and Idea Cellular with 16.69 percent market share.
- During the month of April 2017, Punjab telecom circle showed maximum growth rate in wireless subscribers. Whereas Karnataka telecom circle showed maximum decline rate in wireless subscribers.
- Wireline subscriber base which includes BSNL landline declined to 24.30 million.
- BSNL top the wireline segment with 55.57 percent market share followed by Airtel with 15.93 percent market share.
- In the month of April 2017 alone a total of 4.96 million requests were received for Mobile number portability (MNP).
- The highest number of MNP requests till date have been received in Andhra Pradesh (about 25.06 million) followed by Rajasthan (about 23.3 million).
Highlights of Broadband Data (30th April 2017)
- The number of broadband subscribers, which include both mobile and wired subscribers increased to 284.23 million at the end of April 2017.
- Reliance Jio tops the chart in broadband data market in the country with 112.55 million subscribers.
- Taking mobile broadband subscribers alone, Reliance Jio has around 112.55 million data subscribers. Whereas Airtel has 50.17 million subscribers and Vodafone India at third with 39.75 million subscribers.
- On wired broadband connection, BSNL tops with 9.87 million subscribers, followed by Airtel with 2.09 million subscribers.