Jio didn’t have a very good second-quarter (FY22) in terms of subscribers addition. While the telco still has the largest subscriber market share, it lost 11 million subscribers in the second quarter of FY22. Now, the monthly performance report from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) shows that Jio lost 19 million users in September 2021, which dragged the telco’s total subscriber base to 424.83 million.
At the same time, Bharti Airtel added 0.27 million wireless customers. Vodafone Idea (Vi) lost another 1.07 million subscribers, which lowered its subscriber base further to 269.99 million.
Jio ARPU Increased During the Same Quarter
The clean-up of low-paying inactive subscribers from the user base helped Jio in improving its average revenue per user (ARPU) figure. From Rs 138 in the June quarter, Jio’s ARPU jumped to Rs 144.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea widened their subscriber market share during September. Airtel’s subscriber market share went from 29.85% to 30.4%, while Vodafone Idea’s figures improved from 22.84% to 23.15%. At the same time, Reliance Jio saw a decline in subscriber market share from 37.40% to 36.43%.
This is not something that Jio will be worried about as the telco’s ARPU is increasing, and it still has the largest subscriber market share by a long margin. Along with the ARPU, Jio’s active subscriber base figure also improved. Bharti Airtel retained its position as the telco having the highest percentage of active users in September - 97.86%. Jio and Vodafone Idea had 83.65% and 87.31% active subscribers, out of their total users.
The December quarter should be even better for the telcos as the tariff hikes are kicking in. Reliance Jio might be looking to clear some more of its inactive subscribers from the total user base, which will again push the telco’s ARPU higher. It is worth noting that Jio has the highest number of 4G subscribers in India.
