Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Vodafone Idea (Vi) are the four telecom operators in India. Two of these, including Airtel and Jio, are doing good in terms of business over the last few years. While at the same time, Vi and BSNL are struggling to keep the business afloat. In the month of February 2023, Jio and Airtel were again the only ones to add active users, as well as see an overall increase in the wireless subscriber base. Vi and BSNL saw their subscriber base decline.
Active User Subscriber Addition/Subtraction for Indian Telcos in Feb 2023
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a performance report of the Indian telcos for Feb 2023. Airtel and Jio have added subscribers, while Vi and BSNL have lost them.
According to the data released by TRAI, Airtel and Jio added 0.98 million and 1 million wireless users, respectively. At the same time, BSNL and Vi lost 1 million and 2 million wireless users, respectively.
Read More - Jio and Airtel Add Active Wireless Users in Jan 2023: TRAI Data
When it came to active subscribers, Jio and Airtel added 3.16 million and 0.79 million wireless users. BSNL and Vi lost 0.4 million and 0.78 million wireless users. Understand that these are active users, the ones that actually matter a lot because they pay money to the telcos for services. The same sort of trend has been continuing for years, where Airtel and Jio are eating up the market share of BSNL and Vi aggressively.
The absence of 5G from Vi's networks is also going to hurt the cash-strapped telecom operator severely until the time Airtel and Jio keep offering unlimited 5G data at no additional cost to their 4G users. Vi complained to the regulator that Airtel and Vi are indulging in predatory pricing of mobile services and offering unlimited 5G data which is bad for the overall health of the industry.
