Jio Fiber Loses Subscribers As Broadband User Base Shrinks In January 2020 Report

India’s largest telecom service provider Reliance Jio is losing out wired broadband subscribers while its wireless network is booming with each passing month.

According to the latest data shared with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Jio Fiber lost close to 20K subscribers in January 2020. Until January 31st, Jio had around 8.4 Lakh subscribers, a drop from 8.6 Lakh subscribers it had amassed until December 2019.

On the other hand, Jio’s competitor Bharti Airtel added around 10K subscribers in the same duration. Currently, Jio Fiber is the fifth largest wired broadband provider as state-run BSNL and Bharti Airtel dominate the segment with 82.3 Lakh and 24.3 Lakh subscribers respectively. ACT and Reliance-owned Hathway are the third and fourth-largest broadband providers in India with 15.4 Lakh and 9.2 Lakh users as of January 2020.

TRAI’s recent data show that India has roughly around 19.08 Mn wired broadband subscribers until January 2020, a negligible drop from 19.14 Mn recorded in December 2019.

After revolutionising internet adoption in India with Reliance Jio’s free internet data plans, Reliance drew up the plan for a second wave of the digital revolution through JioFiber broadband services in September 2019.

The connection is bundled up with landline connections and an HD/4K set-top-box for smart TVs. Moreover, Jio Fiber allows users to access Reliance Jio’s first OTT platform, which will enable them to watch movies of the day of their launch. Jio Fiber is offering a speed starting from 100 Mbps and go all the way up to 1 Gbps. The Jio Fiber monthly plan rentals start at INR 699 and go up to INR 8,499.

Recently, Reliance Jio has launched new work from home plans to offer more data to employees who are working remotely. Under the new plans, Jio is offering 2 GB data per day at a price of INR 2,399 for one year. Simultaneously, Jio has also launched top-up plans to fuel the need for additional data packets. These packs start from INR 11 to INR 251 and offer 0.8 GB to 50 GB of data.

Jio’s Dominance Continues In Telecom

In the wireless network segment, Jio is leading the play with around 377.41 Mn subscribers. In January only, the telecom giant added 6.5 Mn new subscribers to the Jio network. Jio is followed by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL with 144.77 Mn, 117.95 Mn and 24.91 Mn subscribers respectively.

Overall, the total number of mobile subscribers in India increased from 1.151 Bn at the end of December 2019 to 1.156 Bn until January 2020, an increase of 0.43%. Until January, private players like Jio, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea held 89.39% of the total mobile subscribers while state-run BSNL and MTNL had a 10.61% market share.

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