Reliance Jio adds 2.94 mn subscribers, Bharti Airtel 0.5 mn: Trai

Overall, the country added 0.7 million new telecom subscribers in July, lower than the 2.22 million new subscribers in June

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio cemented its lead in the Indian telecom market as it gained 2.94 million mobile subscribers in July, data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on September 15 showed. The company had added 420,000 new subscribers in June.

Meanwhile, Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel added 0.5 million subscribers in July, the data showed. Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea lost 1.54 million subscribers in July. Meanwhile, the government-owned BSNL and MTNL lost 1,327,999 and 3,038 wireless customers, respectively.

Jio had the highest user base in the country, at 415.96 million as of July 31, followed by Airtel at 363.4 million, and Vodafone with 255.1 million. The overall number of telephone subscribers in India increased by 0.7 million in July to 1.17 billion as on July 31, the data showed. In June, the number of new subscribers had risen by 2.22 million.

In urban areas, the number of subscribers increased to 650.40 million at the end of July, up from 649.09 million at the end of June. Trai data showed rural subscriptions saw a rare decline. The number of subscribers in India's vast rural hinterland fell to 523.26 million, down from 523.87 million during the same period, data showed. This constituted a loss of 0.6 million subscribers.