Indian telecom industry continues to rise with every passing month. According to the data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the telecom industry has added 2.8 million mobile subscribers (both added and left out subscribers) in April 2017.
Based on the data released by the association of mobile operators in the country, the total number of mobile phone subscribers has reached 934.58 million by the end of April 2017. For the first time, COAI has included the Reliance Jio's customer base as well. However, Jio's data is available until March 31, 2017, where the company is standing with 108.68 million subscribers.
Amongst the telecom companies, Bharti Airtel continues to hold the top position, adding another 2.85 million customers during April to take its total subscriber base to 276.50 million subscribers. Vodafone closely follows Airtel with 209.82 million subscribers, Idea Cellular with 196.05 million subscribers and the new entrant Reliance Jio with 108.68 million subscribers. With 29.59 percent, Bharti Airtel continues to own the maximum market share in the industry. Nevertheless, Airtel's market share is down from 33 percent to 29 percent due to the addition of Reliance Jio to the list.
The report, which also assesses the growth of mobile subscribers across various circles in India, said UP East added the maximum number of subscribers of total 82.47 million in April 2017. Maharashtra remained at second position with 78.78 million mobile subscribers and Bihar coming close third with 76.23 million subscribers. On the other hand, Maharashtra and UP East led in the number of new additions with 0.51 million and 0.47 million subscribers respectively.
Talking about the growth in the subscriber base, Rajan S Mathews, Director General, COAI, said, “The telecommunication industry has again posted good growth for the month of April 2017. The growth in the subscriptions indicates that consumer base is expanding and reaching new horizons in the country. We are an enabler of comprehensive growth of the country. The industry has also ensured that Government’s Digital India programme reaches the farthest corners of the country and everyone reaps the benefit of new communication technologies.”
While the India's top four operators witnessed additions to the overall subscriber base, other operators Aircel, Telenor, and MTNL started losing the customers. Aircel's current total subscriber stand at 90,560,441 losing a total of 339,427 in April 2017. Telenor India who will soon be part of Bharti Airtel has lost a whopping 1,148,996 customers and now stands with an overall subscriber base of 49,344,153. State-run telecom operator MTNL who has operations in Mumbai and Delhi lost a mere 2137 customers in the month of April.
