Jio's home broadband subscribers 90% more than Bharti Airtel's: CLSA

Airtel expanded 5G FWA to 2,000 cities, 70% of Jio's new subs in the category from rural India

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5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) pushed up Reliance Jio’s overall home broadband subscribers to 17 million as of the third quarter (October-December) of FY25, 90 per cent higher than Bharti Airtel’s 9.2 million subscribers, capital markets and investment group CLSA said on Thursday. Meanwhile, Airtel has expanded 5G FWA coverage to 2,000 cities across India, it said in an analyst note.

 

Together, the two telecom operators control 60 per cent of the home broadband market share. A large chunk of growth in the sector is due to 5G FWA, with both Jio AirFiber and Airtel Xstream AirFiber drawing consumers.

 

FWA delivers high-speed internet using wireless signals instead of traditional wired infrastructure like fibre or cable. A dedicated customer premises equipment (CPE), such as a fixed outdoor antenna or an indoor router, picks up signals from nearby mobile towers and converts them into Wi-Fi or Ethernet.

 

Currently at 4.5 million, Jio’s 5G FWA subscriber base grew in Q3, accounting for 85 per cent of all home broadband additions, CLSA said. Encouragingly for the telco, 70 per cent of new 5G FWA subscribers are coming from beyond the top 1,000 cities. Jio has said it is on track to become the largest 5G FWA operator globally.

 

Airtel-Tata Play talks & future growth outlook

 

Airtel is in talks with Tata Play for a potential deal and believes the home broadband market can double to 80-90 million in the medium term.

 

"With the duo targeting 5G FWA ramp-up alongside Fibre to the Home (FTTH) and bundled pay-TV offerings, these services could be an $11-15 billion annual revenue opportunity on top of India’s mobile revenue growing 30 per cent to $39 billion by FY27," CLSA said.

 

FTTH refers to high-speed broadband networks connected directly to homes using optical fibre cables. 

With 900 million 4G and 5G subscribers out of a total 1.14 billion subscriber base, mobile broadband penetration in India stands at 79 per cent. However, out of over 300 million total households, only 46 million have broadband connectivity, including 5G FWA, at a penetration of just 15 per cent.

 

"We believe the best is ahead for Jio’s and Airtel’s home broadband business, where growth is now accelerating, driven by fast-paced adoption of 5G FWA alongside the evolving content consumption preferences of households," CLSA said.