In May 2021, India’s largest cellular provider, Reliance Jio, acquired 3.5 million, new members, while competitors Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea lost subscribers.
According to analysts, the Mukesh Ambani-led Jio’s impressive subscriber growth was fueled by rising market demand for its new JioPhone 2021 plans, which helped it lure 2G consumers from competitor Airtel and Vodafone Idea.
In May, Jio attracted 2.8 million active users, bringing its active user base to 338 million and increasing its active user share to 34.3 per cent. Airtel and Vi, on the other hand, lost 5.6 million and 7 million active customers, respectively, bringing their active user shares to 34.6 per cent and 25%, respectively, and their active user bases to 341 million and 247 million, according to the industry regulator’s latest subscriber statistics.
In April 2021, Reliance Jio earned 4.7 million customers, while Airtel added just 0.5 million, while BSNL and Vi started to lose 1.3 million and 1.8 million members, respectively.
This implies that both Vi and BSNL have lost millions of users in a row, whilst Jio has performed admirably. If both Airtel and Vodafone Idea raises their rates at the same time, Jio’s numbers would improve while Airtel and Vi’s will deteriorate.
According to the TRAI data, Reliance Jio had 36.64 per cent of the wireless subscriber market share, much above Bharti Airtel’s 29.60 per cent, Vodafone Idea’s 23.59 per cent, BSNL’s 9.89 per cent, and Reliance Communications’ 0.001 per cent. It will be fascinating to observe when the operators decide to raise their rates again.