Jio, Airtel Combined Own 80% Share of Broadband Market in India

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jio airtel combined own 80 share of broadband

India is not a duopoly when it comes to telecom. There are still two more operators apart from Jio and Airtel that have more than 200 million users combined. However, Jio and Airtel have made the market in such a manner that it is almost a duopoly, but can’t be defined as one. Both the successful operators (Airtel and Jio), have high-speed broadband availability for customers in almost all parts and also have deep pockets to keep customers lured in with offers and quality.

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Vodafone Idea (Vi) is not able to compete on a head-on manner due to declining business for years (the telco has been losing customers and has a huge chunk of 2G users in India, which are low paying). Apart from losing customers, Vi also has government and vendor dues. While the bank debt for Vi has reduced quite fast over the last two years, the telco has been unable to raise money via debt. Without raising money, it will be hard for Vi to sustain in the competiton.

Airtel, Jio Own 80% of the Broadband Market

According to the latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, together own 81.8% of the broadband market. Jio owns 50.74% of the market share while Airtel owns 31.06% share. This is combined broadband market, i.e., it includes both wireless and wireline. The data is for the month ending June 30, 2025 or Q1 FY26.

Compared to this, Vodafone Idea owns only 13% of the market while BSNL has 3.44% share. With the addition of AirFiber services, Jio and Airtel both are targeting customers in the home broadband segment quite aggressively. This is also an area where Vodafone Idea or BSNL can’t compete with the two telcos. If the market shifts to the side of Airtel and Jio even further than this, then it would be hard to ignore the notion that while the market is not a duopoly, it is as close to one as it could be.