Tariff impact: Reliance Jio loses 7.96 mn users in Sep, shows Trai data

Reliance Jio lost nearly 80 lakh subscribers in September, while BSNL defied industry trends and added 8.4 lakh users

Reliance Jio’s major subscriber losses continued for the third straight month with 7.96 million users leaving the telecom operator in September, even as the state-owned BSNL stood out as the lone gainer, data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) showed on Thursday.

 

Market leader Jio's subscriber loss has continued since July when the three private telecom operators - Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi) - brought in a broad-based hike in tariffs.

 

The latest drop was much higher than the 4.01 million and 0.76 million user losses Jio suffered in the preceding two months. Cumulatively, the telco has lost 12.74 million users in the last 3 months or 2.6 per cent of its total subscriber base of 476.52 million at the June end.

 

The second largest telco Airtel lost 1.43 million users in September, lower than the 2.4 million it lost in July, and 1.69 million in June. The telco has lost 5.53 million subscribers in the past 3 months, the data reveals.

 

Financially beleaguered Vi lost 1.55 million users in September, lower than the 1.87 million and 1.41 million in August and July, respectively. Among the private telcos, Vi had lost the most subscribers for two years till June at 8.6 lakh users.

 

BSNL bags users

 

State-owned telecom operator BSNL continued to benefit from the churn in the market. After losing subscribers for two years, it added 2.9 million, and 2.53 million users in July and August, respectively. However, the pace of customer additions reduced to 8.4 lakh in the latest month. With BSNL keeping tariffs unchanged, a large number of subscribers using entry-level plans have now shifted to the telco.

 

Despite the latest additions, BSNL had 3.26 million fewer users at the end of July as compared to the beginning of 2024. The loss-making firm is currently aiming to roll out its homegrown 4G network nationwide with 1 lakh towers by the middle of next year.

 

While the three private sector telecom operators raised tariffs in the first week of July, BSNL, which is in losses, did not.

 

The tariff hikes have also led to SIM consolidation and subscription cancellations. The overall number of mobile phone connections in India decreased by 10.1 million in September. It had shrunk by 5.77 million and 9.22 million in the preceding two months. Trai data also revealed that 13.32 million subscribers submitted requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in September, up from 14.6 million in August and 13.68 million in July.

 

Tariff hike

 

Breaking a record 30-month logjam, India's telecom sector saw the three private sector telcos raise tariffs from July 3-4. In late June, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea announced a hike in mobile tariffs by up to 21 per cent, while Jio implemented an across-the-board hike of 12-25 per cent. 

 

BSNL subscriber numbers stage turnaround
Month	Change in users base (million)
	Reliance Jio	Bharti Airtel	Vodafone Idea	BSNL
January	4.17	0.75	-1.52	-1.18
February	3.59	1.53	-1.02	-0.17
March	2.14	1.75	-0.68	-2.35
April	2.68	0.75	-0.73	-1.22
May	2.19	1.25	-0.92	-0.51
June	1.91	1.25	-0.86	-0.74
July	-0.75	-1.69	-1.41	2.93
August	-4.01	-2.4	-1.87	2.53
September	-7.96	-1.43	-1.55	0.84
Total in 2024 so far	3.96	1.76	-10.56	0.13
Source : TRAI
	Reliance Jio	Bharti Airtel	Vodafone Idea	BSNL
Market share as of Sep-end (%)	40.2	33.24	18.41	7.98
User base as of Sep-end (million)	463.78	383.48	212.45	91.89
Source : TRAI
Average Revenue Per User	Rs per Month
Bharti Airtel	233
Reliance Jio	195.1
Vodafone Idea	156
BSNL	N/A
Note : All figures are for Q2 FY25