Airtel, Jio Add Wireless Subscribers in May 2025, While Vodafone Idea and BSNL Lose

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Airtel, Jio Add Wireless Subscribers in May 2025, While Vodafone Idea and BSNL Lose
Indian telecom service providers Bharti Airtel (Airtel) and Reliance Jio gained wireless subscribers in May 2025, while Vodafone Idea (Vi) and state-run telcos BSNL and MTNL lost wireless subscribers during the month, according to TRAI‘s Telecom Subscription Data as of May 31, 2025. The data shows that the total number of wireless (mobile) subscribers increased from 1,158.93 million at the end of April 2025 to 1,161.03 million at the end of May 2025, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.18 percent. Likewise, the total wireless (mobile + 5G FWA) subscribers increased from 1,166.43 million at the end of April 2025 to 1,168.42 million at the end of May 2025, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.17 percent.

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Also Read: Airtel, Jio Add Wireless Subscribers in April 2025, While Vodafone Idea and BSNL Lose

5G FWA Subscribers

Total wireless (5G FWA) subscribers decreased from 7.50 million at the end of April 2025 to 7.40 million at the end of May 2025 with subscriptions in urban and rural areas of 4.49 million and 2.91 million, respectively.

As of May 2025, Bharti Airtel reported a 5G FWA subscriber base of 1,540,430 (Added 182,458), while Reliance Jio reported 5,854,939 (Lost 286,331) FWA users, bringing the total to 7,395,369—including 2,909,702 rural subscribers from Jio alone.

Gain and Loss of Wireless Subscribers

Bharti Airtel added 275,621 (0.27 million) wireless subscribers, while Reliance Jio added 2,700,066 (2.70 million) subscribers. Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea lost 274,103 wireless subscribers during the same period. Public sector units (PSUs) BSNL lost 135,654 wireless subscribers and MTNL lost 470,812.

Wireless Market Share of Operators

As of May 31, 2025, private access service providers held a 92.14 percent market share of wireless (mobile) subscribers, while BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU service providers, had a combined market share of only 7.86 percent. This translates to Reliance Jio holding a 40.92 percent market share with 475.1 million wireless subscribers, Bharti Airtel with 33.61 percent market share and 390.25 million wireless subscribers, Vodafone Idea with 17.61 percent market share and 204.44 million wireless subscribers, BSNL with 7.82 percent market share and 90.77 million wireless subscribers, and MTNL with a 0.04 percent market share and 0.45 million wireless subscribers.

Also Read: Airtel, BSNL, and Jio Add Wireless Subscribers in March 2025, While Vodafone Idea and MTNL Lose

Wireless Broadband Subscribers

Reliance Jio reported 480.96 million wireless broadband (fixed and mobile) subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel with 292.89 million, Vodafone Idea with 126.67 million, and BSNL with 29.99 million subscribers.

Wired Market Share

Wireline subscribers increased from 37.41 million at the end of April 2025 to 38.66 million at the end of May 2025. Net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 1.25 million with a monthly rate of growth 3.34 percent.

In the wireline segment, Reliance Jio held a 37.44 percent market share with 14,476,269 wireline subscribers, adding 1,276,361 subscribers. Bharti Airtel had a 26.65 percent share with 10,304,201 wireline subscribers, adding 99, 246 subscribers during the month, and Vodafone Idea reported a 2.12 percent market share with 820,574 wireline subscribers, adding 1,795 subscribers during the month. BSNL reported a market share of 19.59 in the segment with 7,572,988 subscribers losing 46,054 users.

M2M Cellular Connections

According to the report, the number of M2M (Machine-to-Machine) cellular mobile connections increased from 69.87 million at the end of April 2025 to 73.91 million at the end of May 2025. Bharti Airtel has the highest number of M2M cellular mobile connections at 40.14 million, holding a market share of 54.31 percent, followed by Vodafone Idea with 22.74 percent (16.81 million), Reliance Jio with 18.31 percent (13.53 million), and BSNL with 4.63 percent (3.42 million).

Also Read: Airtel and Jio Lead Wireless Subscriber Growth in February 2025, Vodafone Idea and BSNL See Decline

Active Wireless Subscribers

Out of the total 1161.03 million wireless (mobile) subscribers, 1080.06 million wireless (mobile) subscribers were active on the date of peak VLR in the month of May 2025. The proportion of active wireless (mobile) subscribers was approximately 93.03 percent of the total wireless (mobile) subscriber base, according to TRAI. Airtel reported a peak VLR of 99.13 percent during the month, BSNL 63.73 percent, Vodafone Idea (Vi) 84.56 percent, MTNL 96.84 percent, and Reliance Jio 97.25 percent. Active wireless subscribers are based on VLR data.

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