The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), in its monthly report, mentions the number of subscribers industry-wise for all the important industries like the broadband, wireless, DTH, FM Radio and more. The figures are very important and crucial for the industry because they help us track of the industry's health, consumer interest, companies, and other things. As per this report, for the month ending in October 2019, the broadband subscribers in India grew by 2.98% by 1.866 crore subscribers. As per the Trai data available on the matter, at the end of September 2019, the broadband industry in India had about 62.542 crore subscribers. However, in only a month, the number of these subscribers had grown to a whopping 64.408 crore subscribers. This is a massive figure for the broadband industry, and also happens to be the third-highest increase in the broadband subscribers if taken into consideration with a 22 month period.
Broadband Subscribers Growth Picks Up
If speaking in percentage terms, the broadband subscribers' growth in India was the 9th highest one over the entire period of consideration. For a long time, the broadband subscriber growth in India has been on a negative trend.
As for the wireless broadband subscribers in India which includes users on mobile phones and dongles, Trai reported that the industry added 1.857 crore subscribers in the month of October 2019. In percentage terms, this is a 3.06% increase in the subscriber base, and it takes the total subscriber base to 60.584 crores. As for the wired broadband internet segment, the growth witnessed on that front was 0.007 crore. Also, as for the fixed Wi-Fi segment which includes Wi-Fi, WiMax, Point to Point and others, the subscribers grew by 0.002 crore in the October 2019 period. This showed a 4.22% increase as compared to the figures for the previous month.
Reliance Jio Still Leading the Pack With Most Subscribers
Trai, in its report, also revealed the top broadband operators in India as well. According to the Trai report, the top five broadband service providers in India including wired and wireless were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd with 36.512 crore subscribers, Bharti Airtel with 13.286 crore subscribers, Vodafone Idea with 11.580 crore subscribers, BSNL with 2.27 crore subscribers and ACT Fibernet with 0.149 crore subscribers.
Even in the case of wireless subscribers as well, the top broadband service providers in the industry included Reliance Jio Infocomm which boasted of 36.433 crore subscribers, Bharti Airtel with 13.045 crore subscribers. Next up in the list were Vodafone Idea with 11.578 crore subscribers, BSNL with 1.364 crore subscribers and MTNL, with 0.02 crore subscribers.
Top Wired Broadband Players
There was also the ranking for wired broadband subscribers as well ranked according to the number of the subscribers, company wise for the market share that each company occupies. In this list, the top wired broadband service provider was the state-led telecom operator, BSNL with 0.862 crore subscribers. Next up were Bharti Airtel with 0.24 crore subscribers, ACT Fibernet with 0.149 crore subscribers, Hathway Cable and Datacom with 0.087 crore subscribers, and Reliance Jio Infocomm limited with 0.079 crore subscribers. It is worth noting that in this list of wired broadband service providers, Reliance Jio is the latest entrant that replaced You Broadband, boasting of 0.075 crore subscribers. Reliance Jio Infocomm is offering its fibre-based FTTH broadband service to the consumers under the banner of JioFiber. In the month of October 2019, both Bharti Airtel and BSNL lost wired broadband subscribers thus hinting that the subscribers gave up their connections.
