Bharti Airtel, the second-largest telecom operator in India, might have a lower number of total active subscribers than Jio, but it has always had a higher percentage of active subscribers. Even though Jio has more active subscribers than Airtel, the difference is marginal. As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report, Reliance Jio had 350.63 million active subscribers at the end of August 2021, while Bharti Airtel had 346.84 million active subscribers. So the difference is roughly 4 million subscribers.
What’s interesting to note here is that for Bharti Airtel, 346.84 million subscribers is 97.92% of its total subscriber base. For Jio, 350.63 million active subscribers are is 79% of its total subscriber base. So even with a larger subscriber base, Jio has no real big advantage over Airtel. But there’s one thing that works out for Reliance Jio, and that is its complete subscriber base is made of 4G users. As for Airtel’s subscriber base, there are 2G users as well.
Airtel Also Has More Active Subscribers Than Vodafone Idea
Vodafone Idea had 236.49 million active subscribers at the end of August 2021. This is 87.24% of the telco’s total subscriber base. While this figure is not as good as Airtel’s numbers, Vi will be happy with the fact that it is not as bad as Jio’s, at least.
Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio both have plenty of room to grow in the active subscribers' area. Because the more subscribers are active, the more are the earnings regardless of how the ARPU. Further, with an increase in ARPU, the telcos would want more people to pay.
Even though Reliance Jio has less number of active subscribers than Airtel, it earns more because all are 4G customers. Vodafone Idea’s subscriber base also has millions of 2G customers. Hopefully, this changes as early as possible for the telco as it wants to maximise its revenues.
