Airtel Captured Bulk of Vodafone Idea Subscribers: Motilal Oswal

Bharti Airtel, the second largest wireless telecom operator in India captured the “lion’s share” of Vodafone Idea subscribers, Motilal Oswal said in a report on Thursday. The firm engaged in the financial services said that “there is a churn taking place” in the telecom sector. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Thursday in a report said that the total wireless subscribers in India increased 0.06% in September. The Telecom Subscription Data as on September 30, 2020, highlighted that the wireless operators in India registered a subscriber base of 1148.58 million as compared to 1147.92 million in the previous month.

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Urban Areas Register Noticeable Increase in Wireless Subscribers

Despite Airtel and Reliance Jio registering 3.8 million and 1.5 million subscriber additions respectively in September, Motilal Oswal highlighted that the gross subscribers only “increased by a mere” 0.7 million.

“There is a churn taking place, with [Vodafone] Idea losing 4.7m subscribers to Bharti/RJio,” Motilal Oswal said in the report.

The firm also highlighted that the active subscriber additions have “slowed down” in September to 1 million as compared to 1.6 million in the previous month.

According to the Trai data, the wireless operators in the urban areas registered a noticeable increase in subscribers from 624.93 million at the end of August to 626.16 million in September. However, the wireless subscribers in the rural areas is said to have decreased to 522.42 million in September as compared to 522.99 million in the previous month. With a market share of 35.19% as on September 30, 2020, Reliance Jio continues to be the largest wireless operator in India. Further, Airtel continues to be the second largest operator with a market share of 28.44% while Vodafone Idea registered a market share of 25.73% as on September 30, 2020.