The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has released the subscription data in the telecom industry for the month of November 2019. Like every time, the data for the subscribers and the total wired and wireless subscribers is a very crucial one for the industry and tells us how the companies are performing and what the trend is. This time also we have got to know some very interesting things about the telecom operators and one of the major news amidst all of this is the massive subscriber loss for Vodafone Idea which has happened in this period. Another major point which is highlighted in the Trai data is the fact that the overall wireless subscribers have also come down which points to the fact that a lot of consumers might be giving up on their dormant SIMs and might be shifting to a single SIM. Here are all the highlights from the Trai data.
Vodafone Idea in Deep Trouble Over Subscriber Losses
When it comes to loss in subscribers, it is worth noting that in total, the industry lost 28.8 million subscribers. This was, however, the net loss, meaning that while some of the operators lost subscribers, others gained a few. Amongst the losing telecom companies was the Vodafone Idea. Vodafone Idea lost a massive 36.4 million subscribers in the November month. On the other hand, the rest of the three major telecom companies, BSNL, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio added subscribers. In the November month, Reliance Jio added 5.6 million subscribers, whereas Bharti Airtel and BSNL added 1.6 million and 0.34 million subscribers respectively.
Speaking of market share, Reliance Jio was the top telecom operator in the industry with 32.04% of the market share and with the rest two major telecom companies Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea occupying 28.53% and 29.12% of the market share. BSNL occupied 10.19% of the total market share in the wireless segment.
BSNL Retains Top Spot for Wired Service
As for the wired services and the wireline subscribers, the data showed some interesting things. Although BSNL was the operator with the most market share in terms of wireline services with 46.21% of the market, it also lost 1.64 lakh subscribers in the November month. Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea added subscribers in this period. Reliance Jio added as much as 42,198 subscribers in this period whereas Bharti Airtel added 7,793 subscribers. On the second number in the market share pie was Bharti Airtel which occupies 20.24% of the market share. Reliance Jio currently only occupies 4.81% of the broadband market.
In the broadband market, combining both wired and wireless subscribers, we got to see that Reliance Jio stayed at the top of the market share with 56.07% share of the pie. Other players included were Bharti Airtel with 21.16%, Vodafone Idea with 18.13% and BSNL and ACT with 3.41% and 0.23% market share.
Almost 5 Million MNP Requests in November Month
Another thing to note in the Trai data is the fact that although all the states lost wireless subscribers, the most losses happened in the J&K region. The region witnessed a decline of 12.9% in the wireless subscribers in the region mostly because of network cut-offs. Since the Trai data also highlights the MNP requests, the report noted that during November 2019, 4.88 million requests were received for MNP. Overall, the largest loss in the subscriber base has happened for Vodafone Idea, which continues to lose subscribers over its network integration.
