JioFiber, the Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) arm of Reliance Jio now has over 1 million subscribers, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) highlighted in its report on Thursday. The authority released the Telecom Subscription Data as on June 30, 2020, with the data highlighting that the internet service providers (ISP) in India added over 440,000 users in June. According to the data released by Trai, India hit a wired broadband subscriber base of 19.82 million in June. The ISPs in India had earlier registered a combined subscriber base of 19.38 million as on May 31, 2020.
BSNL Has Lost 490,000 Users in Six Months
The Trai subscription data for June highlights that the state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) continues to be the top wired broadband service provider in India with a subscriber base of 7.90 million. The operator in the previous month recorded a subscriber base of 7.93 million with the data highlighting that the operator lost 30,000 users in one month.
According to the Trai data, BSNL registered a subscriber base of 8.39 million as on December 31, 2019. However, the operator has since consistently recorded a decline in its user base with the Trai data highlighting that BSNL has now lost 490,000 users in six months.
Bharti Airtel continues its position as the second largest wired broadband service provider in India with a subscriber base of 2.47 million as on June 30, 2020. The operator in the previous month had recorded a subscriber base of 2.41 million indicating that Airtel gained 60,000 users in one month. In March, Airtel registered a subscriber base of 2.47 million with the number dipping to 2.44 million in April and further to 2.41 million in May. It has to be noted that Airtel was among the initial set of internet providers to have resumed sign ups for its wired broadband service in mid-April.
With a subscriber base of 1.68 million, Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT) retained its position as the third largest wired broadband service provider in India as on June 30, 2020. The operator has gained 90,000 users in two months as the Trai data highlights that the operator registered a subscriber base of 1.59 million in April and 1.61 million in May.
Reliance Jio Crosses 1 Million Subscriber Base
The Trai data also highlights that Reliance Jio Infocomm has now emerged as the fourth largest wired broadband service provider in India with a subscriber base of 1.06 million as on June 30, 2020. Reliance Jio that offers its wired broadband service under JioFiber had earlier registered a subscriber base of 0.97 million in May and 0.90 million in April. The Trai data indicates that the operator has gained over 160,000 users in two months. The operator during the initial COVID-19 lockdowns had offered basic broadband connectivity with speeds of 10 Mbps to users even with the inactive lines for no additional cost. Further, JioFiber since late March also provided double data to its users due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
Meanwhile, Hathway Cable and Datacom dropped to fifth on the list of largest wired broadband service providers in India despite increasing its user base to 0.99 million as on June 30, 2020. The Trai data highlights that the operator since March 2020 had maintained its subscriber base of 0.97 million indicating that Hathway Cable and Datacom gained 20,000 users in three months.
It also has to be noted that the wired broadband service providers in India added 360,000 users in May. The Trai data highlights that BSNL had lost 40,000 users in May while Airtel lost 30,000 users. However, ACT and Reliance Jio had led the subscriber additions in May with the operators gaining 50,000 users and 70,0000 users respectively.
According to the data earlier released by Trai, the wired broadband service providers had lost 160,000 users in April with the top five wired broadband service providers except Reliance Jio losing its subscriber base. It remains to be seen how the operators fare in July as the service providers like Airtel had expanded its Xstream Fiber service in early July to more cities. The company has launched its Xstream Fiber services in Aligarh, Gorakhpur, Jagadhari, Jhansi, Jodhpur, Kakinada, Kolhapur, Mathura, Mirzapur, Shahjahanpur, Shimla, Thanjavur and Yamunanagar. The government on its part had also transitioned from Unlock 1.0 to Unlock 2.0 easing several other restrictions that were in place since the COVID-19 lockdown in March.
