Reliance Jio, India's largest telecom operator, has beaten Airtel by a huge margin in adding new FWA (fixed-wireless access) subscribers in the country. The company's 50-day free trial offer is likely helping it in adding new connections fast. Further, Jio's 5G FWA service is available in more areas compared to Airtel.
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In the month of April 2025, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Reliance Jio added 0.56 million new 5G FWA or AirFiber customers. Compared to this, Airtel only added 0.16 million users. The total 5G FWA or AirFiber subscriber base for Airtel and Jio at the end of April 2025 stood at:
- Jio - 6.14 million
- Airtel - 1.35 million
Reliance Jio was the only operator that was also offering 5G FWA services in rural India as well. India's total FWA base was 7.49 million users at the end of April 2025. Jio had the most 5G FWA users in Andhra Pradesh, amounting to 0.52 million users. For Airtel, the largest 5G FWA base was in Tamil Nadu, amounting to 0.17 million.
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There's a stark difference in the number of 5G FWA subscribers of Airtel and Jio. This is likely due to the 5G presence and availabillity of the two telcos. The AirFiber customers are premium segment users and would definitely contribute to the top line revenues of the telcos. Reliance Jio recently rebranded its business to JioHome and through it, the company is aggressively expanding its presence and reach. Jio had once said that it wants to add about a million new users in the fixed-broadband or FWA segment every month. That would mean around 3 million users every quarter.
The coming months will be interesting to witness as Airtel is also eyeing to deploy 5G FWA (Fixed-Wireless Access) in the near future.
