Private telecom operators witnessed a roller coaster ride in terms of subscriber addition and reduction. While Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel witnessed a spike in the subscriber addition, Vodafone Idea saw a massive decline in the subscriber count. As per the latest information revealed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the largest telecom operator of India, Reliance Jio, added 54.7 lakh subscribers in June, whereas Bharti Airtel added 38.1 lakh subscribers. On the other side, Vodafone Idea lost nearly 42.8 lakh subscribers for the second month in a row.
Total Number of Wireless Subscribers Registered a Monthly Growth Rate of 0.34%
The total number of wireless subscribers was 1,1764.83 million at the end of May 21. In June, the wireless subscribers registered a monthly growth rate of 0.34% and increased to 1,180.83 million subscribers. Talking about the growth of wireless subscribers in the Urban area, the subscriber count increased from 641.48 million to 646.29 million at the end of June 21. However, the wireless subscriber witnessed a reduction in Rural areas.
Wireless subscribers in rural areas were reduced from 535.36 million to 534.54 million, showing a -0.15 monthly decline. As for wireline subscribers, the share of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline was 91.11% and 8.89%, respectively, at the end of June 2021. The wireline subscribers increased from 21.66 million to 21.74 million at the end of June 21.
The government-owned telecom operators BSNl and MTNL dominated the wireline market and held nearly 47.60% of the wireline market as of June 30, 2021. However, in the wireless subscriber market, the private telecom operators bagged nearly 89.95% of the market, whereas BSNL and MTNL had a market share of 10.5%. Talking about Mobile Number Portability (MNP), nearly 12.27 million subscribers submitted their requests for MNP in June.
The total number of MNP requests increased from 593.61 million at the end of May 2021 to 605.88 million at the end of June 2021. TRAI data also showed that the broadband subscribers segment witnessed a growth rate of 1.60%. The broadband subscribers count stood at 792.78 million at the end of June 2021. The data revealed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) also revealed that the number of active wireless subscribers in June 2021 was around 984.79 million. This subscriber count was recorded on the date of peak VLR.
