Reliance Jio Continues To Lead Telecom Market, Adds 40 Lakh Wireless Subscribers In Dec 2023

Reliance Jio added 39.9 Lakh wireless subscribers to its user base in December 2023, as per the monthly data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Jio was followed by Airtel, which gained 18.5 Lakh wireless users during the month. 

On the other hand, Vodafone Idea (Vi) continued to be the biggest loser, shedding more than 13.6 Lakh subscribers in December. On similar lines, state-owned BSNL and MTNL lost 1.5 Lakh and 4,420 wireless users, respectively, during the course of the month. 

Overall, Indian telcos added 43.2 Lakh wireless users in the month of December 2023. The number of active wireless subscribers in the country during the month stood at 115.8 Cr.

Jio continued its reign at the top and accounted for a market share of 39.69%, followed by Airtel with 32.95%. Vi’s market share stood at 19.25%, while BSNL accounted for 7.94% of customers. 

Meanwhile, the country’s overall wireless teledensity improved to 82.95% in December from 82.71% in the previous month. The number was buoyed by both urban and rural India where wireless teledensity jumped to 127.88% and 58.26%, respectively, during the month.

In addition, the total number of broadband users (both wireless and wireline) grew 0.88% month-on-month (MoM) to 90.4 Cr during the month from 89.6 Cr. Jio accounted for the lion’s share at 51.98%, while Airtel and Vi’s market share in the broadband space stood at 29.27% and 14.07%, respectively.

In December 2023, 1.2 Cr users submitted requests for mobile number portability (MNP), taking the total beyond the 92.7 Cr mark till date. At 70.3 Lakh, a majority of the requests emerged from Zone-I (Northern and Western India) while the remaining 54.1 Lakh requests came from Zone-II (Southern and Eastern India).

The strong uptake in Jio subscriber numbers comes at a time when the company’s JioBharat feature phone has seen strong sales and adoption among masses. The phone commanded a 45% market share in the sub-INR 1,000 price segment in January 2024.

Back then, RIL chairman and managing director, Mukesh Ambani, had termed the strong uptake of the feature phone as one of the reasons behind telecom operator expansion of subscriber base. 

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