Bharti Airtel Gains an Upper Hand on Reliance Jio by Adding More Broadband Subscribers in a Month

For the first time since the commencement of operations of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, Bharti Airtel has added more subscribers than the former. As per a Bloomberg Quint report, this was the first time that Bharti Airtel managed to add more mobile broadband subscribers than Reliance Jio ever since the start of its operations in September 2016. The Sunil Bharti Mittal led telecom operator added nearly one crore mobile broadband users as opposed to Reliance Jio’s 93.2 lakh subscribers. The data comes from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which is responsible for regulating the telecom industry in India.

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Airtel Adds One Crore Subscribers in January

This stat comes as a good sign for Bharti Airtel which had seen its average revenue per user (ARPU) erode by over 45% when Reliance Jio has started operations in the country. In its climb back from the trenches back to an active player in the field, the telecom operator is already on the task of cutting down non-paying customers. It is also worth noting that mobile broadband users are high revenue generating customers for the telcos as voice has already gone free in the country. To recall, when Reliance Jio made its entry into the market it introduced free data offerings for the subscribers, thus eroding revenues from the industry and forcing smaller telcos to make exits and bigger ones towards consolidation. However, now that wave has subsided, and Airtel is already on the path of recovery as its moves are expected to show results in the present quarter.