Top three telcos have 61% market share

Airtel, which continued to be the market leader, consolidated its position further with market share at 24.7% as of the reported period

The top three telecom operators — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular — continued to strengthen their position, with a combined market share of 61 per cent in terms of wireless subscribers as of June 2016.

The top three players had a market share of 58.9 per cent as of June 2015, ratings agency ICRA said today quoting telecom subscription data from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). In June 2016, the wireless subscriber base increased to 1,035.12 million from 1033.16 million subscribers as of May 2016.

Airtel, which continued to be the market leader, consolidated its position further with market share at 24.7 per cent as of the reported period, followed by Vodafone at 19.3 per cent and Idea at 17.0 per cent.

During June 2016, the active wireless subscriber base for the industry declined for third consecutive month. The total wireless subscriber base, however, grew by 1.96 million during the month.

Harsh Jagnani, Vice President Corporate Ratings, ICRA said, "The total telecom subscriber base increased from 1058.03 million in May 2016 to 1059.85 million in June 2016 driven by steady addition of subscribers by the major telcos. The active subscribers, on the other hand, declined from 932.53 million to 915.15 million. Surprisingly, the broadband subscriber base remained stagnant at 159.80 million as compared to 159.76 million in May 2016, although it grew by 47 per cent year-on-year."