Jio cements its position as market leader at the end of September 2023: TRAI Report

Reliance Jio has ended the third quarter of calendar year 2023 with the addition of 3.47 million wireless subscribers in September. Most of these have come at the expense of state-owned operator BSNL and cash-strapped private telco Vi, both of whom have lost a considerably large number of users. Airtel though stole a march above Jio when it comes to wireline additions where it led with 0.14 million net ads as against 0.12 million for Jio.

The overall wireless subscriber base increased marginally by 1.72 million from 1148.43 million at the end of August to 1150.15 million at the end of September 2023. The overall wireline subscriber base increased marginally by 0.2 million from 30.78 million at the end of August to 30.98 million at the end of September 2023.

Wireless Subscriber Market share:

As of 30th September 2023, Reliance Jio is leading with 39.06% wireless subscriber market share which translates to 449.21 million subscribers, Bharti Airtel is at second position with 32.85% market share (377.78 million subscribers), whereas Vodafone Idea comes third with 19.78% market share (227.53 million subscribers). BSNL commands 8.14% (93.67 million) while MTNL commands just 0.17% market share (1.95 million).

Wireless Subscriber Gain/Loss in September:

Reliance Jio reported a gross addition of 3.47 million subscribers, Bharti Airtel added over 1.32 million wireless subscribers. Vodafone Idea continued its subscriber loss streak with a 0.74 million net loss in June. BSNL lost over 2.3 million wireless subscribers while MTNL lost over 2.5 thousand.

Active subscriber base, VLR data:

Visitor location register (VLR) is an indicator of what percentage of the total subscriber base is comprised of active users. Bharti Airtel leads the race with a VLR score of over 99% and has the lowest inactive user base of 1.63 million, it is followed by Reliance Jio with a score of above 93% (inactive user base 28.94 million). Vodafone Idea has a VLR score of nearly 88% (inactive user base 27.74 million), whereas BSNL lags with a score of just above 53% (inactive user base 43.68 million) and MTNL finishes last with a VLR score of just above 32% (inactive user base 1.32 million).

Wireline subscriber market share:

Private operators (read Jio and Airtel) continued to reclaim the market dominance in this segment from PSU operator BSNL which had for long enjoyed the supreme position due to lack of competition from private operators. Jio leads with a 33.75% share of the wireline subscriber market in June 2022, which translates to 10.45 million subscribers. Bharti Airtel at the second spot commands a 25.59% share (7.92 million subscribers). BSNL retains the third position with a 20.17% market share (6.24 million). Tata Teleservices follows at the fourth spot with a 7.31% share (2.26 million subscribers). While MTNL comes at the fifth spot with a 7.25% share (2.24 million subscribers).

Wireline Subscriber Gain/Loss in September:

Reliance Jio added over 1.49 lakh new wireline connections in September 2023, followed by Bharti Airtel which added over 1.2 lakh new connections. Tata Teleservices added over 13 thousand wireline subscribers. BSNL continued the trend of losing subscribers with the loss of over 81 thousand connections in September whereas MTNL lost over 9 thousand in the same duration.

Broadband subscriber market share:

Broadband is considered when the speed offered is higher than 512 Kbps irrespective of it being a wired or wireless connection. As of 30th September 2023, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers by subscriber base were Reliance Jio (9.75 million), Bharti Airtel (7.03 million), BSNL (3.71 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (2.2 million), and Hathway Cable & Datacom (1.12 million). The top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd (449.21 million), Bharti Airtel (250.57 million), Vodafone Idea (126.50 million), BSNL (21.41 million) and Intech Online (0.24 million).