Reliance Jio adds over 79 lakh mobile subscribers

CHENNAI : Reliance Jio beat rival Bharti Airtel in March for the second month in a row after lagging behind the latter in terms of net mobile user additions for six straight months. However, Jio continues to record the largest inactive user base at 91 million, compared to Airtel’s 8 million and Vodafone Idea’s 21 million. According to data released by sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), March saw all four major telecom service providers recording an improvement in net additions to their wireless user base. Reliance Jio saw a sharp increase in this metric during the month, adding a net 7.92 million wireless users compared to the 4.26 million addition in the previous month of February.

Airtel added 4.05 million compared to February’s 3.73 million and Vodafone Idea added 1.09 million against 652,625. State-run BSNL also turned around its fortunes during March,adding a net 194,310 wireless users compared to a net loss of 359,157 in February.
Jio’s ramp up in wireless net additions is a reversal of last year’s trend, when Airtel had pipped the Mukesh Ambani firm for six straight months between August 2020 and January 2021. It was only in February 2021 that Jio began regaining the lead it had held nearly continuously from its launch until last year. Higher user additions have helped Jio increase its total wireless market share from 35.5% in February to 35.8 in March, even as Airtel’s market share remained stagnant at 29.8 per cent and Vodafone Idea’s fell from 20.2 per cent to 20 per cent.

Jio also retains the lead in terms of total telecom subscribers at 422.92 million, followed by Airtel with 352.40 million users and Vodafone Idea at 283.71 users. However, the Reliance telco continues to struggle with a large overhang of inactive subscribers, which remains far larger than any of its competitors. As of the end of March, Jio had the weakest proportion of active users among its total subscribers at just 78.43 per cent, compared to Vodafone Idea’s 90.13 per cent and Airtel’s 97.72 per cent.