TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has released its monthly performance report for the telecom sector for Dec 2023. The usual trend continued where Jio added the most wireless subscribers followed by Airtel. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Vodafone Idea (Vi) saw their subscriber base falling further. The same also happened in the wireline segment. Wireline segment promises a lot of growth for the telcos in the next few years. As fiber deployment happens in more corners of the country, the opportunity to add more high-paying customers for fixed-line broadband will grow.
Let's look at the precise numbers.
Who Led the Wireline Additions
When it came to wireline additions in Dec 2023, Jio led by adding 0.24 million connections during the month. Airtel was at the second as it added 0.08 million users. Vodafone Idea added 0.009 million users while BSNL lost 0.03 million connections.
Jio had the largest market share in both wireless and wireline segments while Airtel was at second in both. BSNL, once hailed the king of the wireline segment, was comfortably at the third rank. BSNL is pushing customers to switch from copper connections to fiber, which will definitely contribute to enhancing the broadband experience at home for consumers.
Read More - BSNL Launches Copper to Fiber Conversion Project in Tamil Nadu
At the end of Dec 2023, Jio had a total of 11.04 million wireline subscribers, followed by Airtel which had 8.31 million users. BSNL had 6.14 million wireline connections during the month followed by MTNL with 2.21 million connections. Vodafone Idea had the least amongst the telcos - 0.69 million wireless users.
Now, since we have talked about the wireline customers, let's also take a look at the wireless users performance for a brief second.
How Many Wireless Users Did Telcos Add in Dec 2023
Reliance Jio led the race by adding 3.9 million subscribers followed by Airtel which added 1.85 million users. Vodafone Idea (Vi) lost 1.36 million users while BSNL lost 0.15 million users.
When it came to active users, Airtel led by adding the most active users during the month. Airtel added 3 million active users in Dec as its VLR or active user base jumped from 374.54 million to 377.54 million.
Read More - BSNL and Vodafone Idea Continue to Lose Wireless Subscribers: TRAI
Jio was second in this list as it added 1.21 million users. Jio's VLR base jumped from 423.30 million to 424.51 million. Vodafone Idea lost 1.84 million users as its VLR base fell from 198.52 million to 196.68 million. BSNL's active user base fell by 0.44 million in Dec 2023 as its VLR base fell from 49.08 million to 48.64 million.
Airtel had the maximum proportion of its user base active (98.90%) while Jio had 92.32% of its user base active.
Until the time BSNL launches 4G, its subscriber loss will continue to happen as users won't stay with inferior networks for long. Vodafone Idea has been losing users for a very long time as well due to not offering 5G and having inferior 4G services compared to competitors.
