Jio adds 17.6 lakh users in Oct; Airtel, VIL lose subscribers

India's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio gained 17.6 lakh mobile subscribers in October 2021 while market rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea lost a cumulative 14.5 lakh users during the month, according to the latest data released by TRAI on Monday.

Bharti Airtel lost 4.89 lakh mobile users in October, while Vodafone Idea lost 9.64 lakh subscribers during the reported period.

Reliance Jio's mobile subscriber base surged to 42.65 crore in October, as the telco added 17.61 lakh mobile users in the month, according to data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Notably, the increase in subscription in October came after Jio had lost 1.90 crore users in September, previous month's data showed.

TRAI's monthly subscription data released on Monday revealed that Bharti Airtel, the second largest telecom operator, lost 4.89 lakh mobile customers during October, and its subscriber base declined to 35.39 crore. Airtel had added 2.74 lakh mobile users in the month of September.

Vodafone Idea lost 9.64 lakh mobile subscribers in October and its user base dipped to 26.90 crore, as per the latest data.

That said, VIL's subscriber losses had been higher in September at 10.77 lakh users.

The total number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 1,189.62 million (118.96 crore) at the end of October 2021, a monthly growth rate of 0.04 per cent.

Urban telephone subscription decreased to 658.83 million (65.88 crore) at the end of October 2021, but the rural subscription rose to 530.79 million (53.07 crore) during the same period, TRAI said.

"The overall tele-density in India decreased from 86.89 per cent at the end of September-21 to 86.86 per cent at the end of October-21," TRAI said in its monthly report.

The total broadband subscribers increased to 798.95 million (79.8 crore) at the end of October 2021.

"As on 31 October, 2021, the top five wireless broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom (426.60 million), Bharti Airtel (204.73 million), Vodafone Idea (122.47 million), BSNL (19.85 million) and Tikona Infinet (0.30 million)," the report added.

Photograph: Shailesh Andrade/Reuters