Right after the Trai releasing its subscriber addition for the month of October, the COAI has now announced the data of November 2018. During November, Vodafone Idea lost over 6.5 million subscribers, but it still remained the leading telecom operator with 420 million subscribers under its belt. Bharti Airtel, on the other hand, added just over a lakh new subscribers, which comes as a relief for the telco as it lost subscribers on a large number during September and October months. "Vodafone Idea, however, continued to lose customers for the third consecutive month in November after completion of their merger," said a PTI report, citing COAI data.
As noted, the combined entity lost over 6.5 million subscribers in November but still remained the largest mobile services provider in the country with a user base of over 420 million, the COAI data released on Thursday showed.
In September and October, Bharti lost over 2.3 million and 1.8 million customers respectively while Vodafone Idea lost over 6.6 million and 7.3 million customers during these two months. New entrant Reliance Jio has been continuously adding new customers. However, its new customer addition data for the month of November was not available. Yesterday, Trai stated that Jio added more than 10 million subscribers during October which took its user base to 262.3 million.
"Mobile connectivity and data services are imperative in the goal to bridge the digital divide in India. With these tools, we can move towards a truly equitable and democratic nation. The telecom industry, therefore, deserves an urgent and immediate intervention to encourage policy and regulatory stability, and facilitate growth, innovation and investment in the sector," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) does not capture the monthly subscriber figures of BSNL, MTNL, Tata and Reliance Communication. It shared subscriber base detail of Reliance Jio Infocomm based on information available from the telecom regulator Trai.
