Telecom Data: Jio, Airtel Continue Winning Streak In May 2023, Vi Continues To Lose Users

Continuing its winning streak, Reliance Jio added wireless subscribers to its network for the third consecutive month, as per the data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Jio added 3.04 Mn wireless subscribers during the month. Bharti Airtel, which had a poor showing in April with the addition of only 76,328 wireless users, added nearly 1.4 Mn subscribers in May. However, Jio continued to outpace the second-largest telecom company in the country.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea (Vi) and state-owned telcos, BSNL and MTNL, witnessed massive user churn. Vi continued its losing streak in May as the telco lost more than 2.8 Mn users. 

At the same time, BSNL and MTNL lost 1.5 Mn and 2,388 users, respectively. Together, the two government-owned telecom operators accounted for less than 10% of the Indian wireless user base in May 2023.

In terms of market share, Jio led the pack comfortably with a 38.17% share of the Indian wireless market. Airtel accounted for 32.57% of the wireless market, while Vi was a distant third with a 20.20% market share.

Overall, the net addition for wireless users stood at 73,811 in May as against a loss of 7.96 Lakh wireless users in the previous month. The country’s overall teledensity stood at 84.40%, a slight decline caused by urban teledensity falling to 133.34% from 133.64% in April.

The total number of broadband (including both wireless and wireline) users in India went up to 856.81 Mn at the end of May, 5.87 Mn higher than the 850.94 Mn recorded at the end of April.

Jio’s dominance becomes more pronounced when looking at the total number of broadband users, as the Akash Ambani-led telecom giant accounted for nearly 52% of the market share, or 445.23 Mn users as of May 30, 2023.

A total of 11.47 Mn requests were submitted for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in April. 

Even as both Jio and Airtel are battling it out for supremacy in the telecom market, it seems the fighting has spilt into the satellite communications arena as well.

In its submissions to TRAI, the Akash Ambani-led telco has pitched for a spectrum auction, while Bharti Airtel-backed OneWeb has sought an administrative allocation.

Jio recently received a major boost as it secured $2.2 Bn funding from the Swedish Export Credit Agency to fund its 5G rollout, which is expected to give it an edge over Airtel and Vi.