Vodafone Idea (Vi), a prominent Indian telecom operator, lost slightly more than a million wireless subscribers in February 2024. In January, the telco lost 1.5 million wireless subscribers. This means, that Vi bid farewell to about 2.5 million subscribers in January and February together. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), another major telecom player in the country, lost about 170k or 0.17 million users in February 2024. In the previous month, BSNL lost 1.18 million wireless users, meaning a total of around 1.35 million users.
As for Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, both telcos saw an uptick in the number of wireless users. Jio added 3.5 million wireless users in February and 4.1 million users in January, totalling 7.6 million subscribers. Airtel added 1.5 million in February and 0.75 million in January, totalling 2.25 million subscribers.
Note that the data has been procured from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) monthly performance indicator report of the telecom sector.
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What about VLR or Active Users?
Jio had 426.7 million VLR or active users during February, an increase of 1.18 million month-over-month (MoM). Airtel's VLR subscriber count also went up to 382.60 million, an increase of 1.5 million MoM.
Vodafone Idea lost VLR subscribers, as its active subscriber count stood at 193.85 million, a decline of 0.61 million users MoM. BSNL lost 0.09 million active users, a negligible number, and its active user base stood at 48.33 million.
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Jio has the largest wireless subscriber base in India with over 467.59 million subscribers. At the second place is Airtel with 384.01 million users. Vodafone Idea's subscriber base has slid quite signficantly over the last five years and now stands at 220.50 million.
Both Airtel and Jio are also targetting rural India, and with that, both telcos will garner even more subscribers of their competitors. Jio is also trying to get a larger market share by offering low-cost SIM-locked 4G phones such as the JioPhone, JioBharat Phone, and the JioPhone Next.
