It seems Vodafone Idea’s subscriber base is eroding uncontrollably. After losing more than 34.6 lakh mobile subscribers in February 2020, the telco has now lost more than 63.5 lakh subscribers in March 2020. In the same period, Airtel to lost over 12.6 lakh subscribers. The telco was having a better time in February 2020, when it gained 9 lakh, new subscribers.
According to the latest Telecom Subscription Data for March 2020 by TRAI, both telcos Vodafone Idea and Airtel together lost more than 75 lakh subscribers in March alone. However, a major chunk of these subscribers seems to be migrating towards Reliance Jio and state-run BSNL. During March 2020, Reliance Jio added more than 46.8 lakh new subscribers to its network. While BSNL was able to attract 95,428 new subscribers.
With this loss and gain, Reliance Jio improved its market share, which stands at the top with 33.47 per cent. Airtel stands second with 28.31 per cent, Vodafone Idea at third with 27.57 per cent and BSNL with 10.35 per cent of the market share.
Stats on Indian Telecom (March 2020)
- The number of telephone subscribers in India decreased to 1,177.97 million.
- The total wireless subscribers, which also includes 2G, 3G and 4G LTE subscribers in the country also decreased to 1,157.75 million.
- Private telecom operators hold 89.36 per cent market share in the Indian telecom sector. Whereas the PSU telecom operators BSNL and MTNL together hold 10.64 per cent of the pie.
- Reliance Jio added the maximum number of subscribers to its network – 46.8 lakh, followed by BSNL.
- On the losing side, we have Vodafone Idea, Airtel and MTNL.
- Reliance Jio retained the top position in India telecom sector with 33.47 per cent market share. Followed by Airtel with 28.31 per cent market share and Vodafone Idea with 27.57 per cent market share.
- Wireline subscriber base declined to 20.22 million in March 2020. BSNL along with MTNL topped the wireline segment with 58.46 per cent market share. While Airtel is expanding its reach with 21.73 per cent market share.
- There were 5.74 million Mobile number portability (MNP) requests in March 2020.
Stats on Indian Broadband (March 2020)
- The number of broadband subscribers, which include both mobile and wired subscribers increased to 687.44 million.
- Reliance Jio tops the chart in the data market in the country with 388.39 million subscribers. Airtel takes the second spot with 148.57 million data subscribers.
- In wired broadband connections, BSNL continues to hold the top space with 8.08 million subscribers. On the second spot, we have Airtel Broadband with 2.47 million subscribers.
- In the Wireless broadband service (3G, 4G) providers ranking list (based on the number of subscribers) Reliance Jio tops the chart, followed by Airtel and Vodafone India.