Reliance Jio gains 3.47 mn, Vi loses 0.74 mn users in September: Trai

Reliance Jio continued to strengthen its position in the Indian telecom market, gaining 3.47 million new users in September, according to the latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). However, this was lower than the record 3.9 million users the company had acquired in July.

The company's growth has continued to come largely at the expense of the state-owned operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), which lost 2.33 million users in September, marking the second consecutive month of more than 2 million declines.

Vodafone Idea (Vi), which has been experiencing significant customer attrition for the past 18 months, saw 0.74 million users leave their service. The level of churn had reduced in August when the company had lost just 49,782 users.

Bharti Airtel, the second-largest player in the market, saw its subscriber count increase by 1.32 million users.

Jio continues to lead among private telcos
Month	Change in users base (million)
	Reliance Jio	Bharti Airtel	Vodafone Idea	BSNL
January	1.65	1.28	-1.35	-1.49
February	1	0.98	-2	-1.02
March	3.05	1.03	-1.21	-0.51
April	3.04	0.07	-2.9	-0.72
May	3.03	1.32	-2.81	-1.48
June	2.27	1.4	-1.28	-1.88
July	3.9	1.5	-1.2	-1.41
August	3.24	1	-0.04	-2.22
September	3.47	1.32	-0.74	-2.33
Total in 2023	24.65	9.9	-13.53	-13.06
Source : TRAI

In August, Jio had a subscriber market share of 39.06 per cent, while Airtel held a 32.85 per cent share, and Vi's market share further slid to 19.78 per cent, the second consecutive month the company has registered less than a 20 percent national share. BSNL had a market share of 8.14 percent.

The overall number of mobile phone connections in India increased by 1.72 million in September, slower than the 2.18 million rise in August. Connections had risen by 2.67 million and 0.37 million in the preceding two months.

TRAI data revealed that 12.65 million subscribers had submitted requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in September, slightly lower than the 12.67 million subscribers in August, signalling a sustained trend of Vi users migrating to other operators.