Trai On Free Data

Reliance Jio cemented its lead in Indian telecom market adding 21.74 lakh wireless subscribers in March, while Bharti Airtel's monthly gains were at 12.50 lakh users, according to data released by telecom regulator TRAI on Wednesday. Vodafone Idea lost 5.41 lakh mobile users from its network, and its subscriber base shrunk to 20.53 crore users. As per the data, Jio's addition of 21.74 lakh wireless users during the month pushed up its subscriber count to 46.97 crore. For Bharti Airtel, the mobile base expanded to 38.98 crore, with addition of 12.50 lakh users in March. "Total wireless (mobile+5G-FWA) subscribers increased from 1,160.33 million at the end of February-25 to 1,163.76 million at the end of March-25, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.28 per cent. Total wireless subscription in urban areas decreased from 634 million on February-25 to 632.57 million on March-25 and the subscription in rural areas increased from 526.33 million to 531.18 million during the same

Trai stood firm on its other recommendation relating to introduction of third party 'aggregators' to facilitate and incentivise free data