Jio becomes first telco to cross 40 crore subscribers mark: TRAI data

Reliance Jio has become the first mobile service provider to cross 40 crore customers mark in India with net addition of over 35 lakh subscribers in July, according to data released by telecom regulator TRAI on Monday.

The overall telecom subscriber base increased marginally to 116.4 crore in July from 116 crore in June.

Mobile phone connections in the country increased to 114.4 crore in July from 114 crore in June, with urban and rural connections standing at 61.9 crore and 52.1 crore respectively, according to the monthly subscribers report of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Fixed-line connections after several years increased marginally to 1,98,20,419, with private telecom operators led by Jio taking the lead.

Public sector telecom companies BSNL and MTNL and loss-making private firms Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices continued to post decline in fixed-line customer segment.

Reliance Jio now dominates India's mobile market with 35.03 percent market share at 40,08,03,819 subscribers.

Bharti Airtel and BSNL added 32.6 lakh and 3.88 lakh mobile customers respectively in July. Vodafone Idea lost over 37 lakh customers. State-run MTNL also lost 5,457 mobile service customers.

Broadband connections, dominated by the mobile segment, grew by 1.03 percent to 70.54 crore in July from 69.82 crore in June.

"Top five service providers constituted 98.91 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of July," the TRAI report said.

ALSO READ

Reliance Jio launches India's first in-flight internet service on 22 international airlines

Reliance Jio had 40.19 crore broadband customers, Bharti Airtel 15.57 crore, Vodafone Idea 11.52 crore, BSNL 2.3 crore and Atria Convergence 16.9 lakh subscribers in July.

Revenues for mobile operators are expected to improve sequentially in September quarter, as factors like increased recharges, reverse migration, and easing of lockdown curbs helped overcome what is otherwise a seasonally weak quarter, say sector analysts.

"Subscriber addition expected for RJio/Bharti Airtel (though at muted levels), while Vodafone Idea to continue losing subscribers," it said, adding that margin improvement from revenue increase is likely to be partially offset by higher commissions, and sales and marketing cost.

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context.)