Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio added more than double wireless subscribers in September 2023 than rival Bharti Airtel. Jio added 34.75 lakh wireless subscribers in the month under consideration, while, rival, Bharti Airtel, gained just 13.20 lakh customers. While, Aditya Birla Group led telecom, Vodafone Idea (VI) continued to lose subscribers both in wireless and wireline segment. VI lost 7.49 lakh wireless subscribers in September, 2023. Although, number of subscribers that left VI in the month under consideration is far lower than how much VI has generally lost every month in last one year.
Anyways, VI continued to lose market share both in the wireless and wireline segment.
VI’s market share in the wireless segment has further shrinked to 19.78 per cent. While, Airtel’s market share in the relevant segment ballooned to 32.85 per cent. Whereas, Jio continues to be numero uno player in the industry with 39.06 per cent market share in the wireless segment.
Private players now have 91.69 per cent market share while that of public telecoms like BSNL and MTNL further shrunk to 8.31 per cent in this particular segment.
In the wireline segment too, private telecoms like Jio and Airtel are fast gaining market share.
A striking feature in the wireless segment of India’s telecom industry was for the very first time, in September 2023, Jio added less wireline subscribers than its rival Bharti Airtel. The Mukesh Ambani led telecom added only 1.28 lakh wireline subscribers to its kitty. While Bharti Airtel, gained 1.49 lakh wireline subscribers in the same month.
Although, both the private telecoms further gained market share in the wireline segment. While, VI has lost market share in this segment as well just like in the wireless segment in last one year.
Total wireless subscribers in the country currently stand at 115 crore as of September 31, 2023. While, there were total of 3.09 crore wireline subscribers. This takes country’s total telephone subscribers in both wireline and wireless segment to 118 crore subscribers in the same month.