Reliance Jio on path to become dominant FWA player globally: Analysts

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Indian telecom major Reliance Jio is on track to become the world's largest Fixed Wireless Access provider by subscriber base, eclipsing US-based telecom giant T-Mobile, an analyst report said on Sunday.

According to recent data released by telecom regulator Trai, Reliance Jio total 5G FWA subscriber base (including unlicensed band radio) reached 6.88 million in May, while T-Mobile had 6.85 million subscribers in March.

Reliance Jio reclassified around 1 million Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) unlicensed band radio (UBR) subscribers into FTTx category, following which its net FWA subscriber base stood at 5.9 million in May, with a monthly addition of 0.74 million customers.

ICICI Securities report by analysts Sanjesh Jain, Mohit Mishra and Aparajita Chakraborty based on Trai data said that industry FWA (excluding UBR) stood at 7.4 million with RJio's FWA subs stood at 5.9 million after UBR reclassification.

The report said that net addition was 0.74 million subscribers in May.

"RJio's FWA (including UBR) stood at 6.88 mn. This, compared to T-Mobile (US player, and the largest FWA subs base globally) FWA subs base was at 6.85 mn in March 2025. We believe RJio is on a path to become the dominant player by subs for FWA globally by end-June 2025," the report said. 

Overall, Reliance Jio dominated the India market with 50.72 per cent share in the broadband segment, comprising both wired and wireless segments.

Reliance Jio total fixed wired broadband subscriber base was 13.51 million and wireless broadband subscriber base was 480.96 million in May, as per data published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

Reliance Jio is followed by Bharti Airtel in India with 30.99 per cent share in the broadband segment.

Both Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel at present dominate the Indian telecom services market.

The Indian telecom subscriber base grew marginally to 1,207 million in May with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel adding over 99 per cent new customers during the month.

The total net subscriber addition by the telecom service providers was 43,58,231, while Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel jointly added 43,51,294 -- accounting for 99.84 of total net subscriber addition in May.