Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL), the third-largest telecom operator in the country, was the only telecom operator to lose customers in 2025. Even Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) added users. What's interesting is that BSNL added more users than even Airtel. Jio, like always or in most cases, continued to add the most users and stay on top. During the September quarter, Jio has already crossed the 500 million users mark. This is a major achievement for any telco, not only just in India, but globally. The data for September 2025 was posted on Monday by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), and here's what you need to know.
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BSNL Added More Users than Airtel, Vodafone Idea
Reliance Jio was on the top, as it added 3.24 million new wireless users to its overall susbcriber base. BSNL was the second leading player here as it added about 0.52 million users, and Airtel was ranked third as it added 0.43 million users. Vodafone Idea continued to lose users like every month, and it lost about 0.74 million subscribers. What's loss for Vi is clearly a gain for BSNL and the other private telecom operators.
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With this, Vi's wireless subscriber market share shrinked to 17.33%, whilst Jio's stood at 41.24% and Airtel's stood at 33.53%. BSNL's share of the market in this segment was 7.88%. Vodafone Idea is losing subscribers despite launching 5G and improving 4G with a high capex spends in the last year. Clearly, something's amiss with Vi. The ailing telecom operator recently decided to incerase incentives and margins for the retailers. This should help the company in adding more users, but at a higher cost.
Regardless, the need of the hour for Vodafone Idea is to add new users. The telco recently go relief from the Supreme Court (SC) in the AGR (adjusted gross revenue) dues matter.
