Private Telcos Lose Over 10 Million Subscribers in September; BSNL Gains Momentum: Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea jointly lost over one crore (10 million) wireless contributors in September 2024, as per data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). In contrast, public-sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) added 8.49 lakh new operators, pushing its subscriber base to 9.18 crore.
Reliance Jio experienced the chief decline, losing 79.69 lakh contributors, followed by Vodafone Idea (15.53 lakh) and Bharti Airtel (14.34 lakh). Despite the losses, Jio continued to be the market leader with 46.37 crore wireless contributors, trailed by Airtel (38.34 crore) and Vodafone Idea (21.24 crore).
Private Telcos Lose Over 10 Million Subscribers in September; BSNL Gains Momentum: The drops coincided with a tariff hike of 10–27% by private operators in July. BSNL, however, elected not to raise its prices, a decision repeated by Chairman and Managing Director Robert Ravi, who stated that BSNL has no plans for price upsurges.
Instead, BSNL has launched creative solutions such as spam blockers, automatic SIM kiosks, and direct-to-device facilities to attract users and recover market share.
Broadband subscriptions also failed, falling from 949.21 million in August to 944.40 million in September, marking a 0.51% monthly decrease. Jio continued to dominate broadband services with 47.7 crore contributors, followed by Airtel (28.5 crore), Vodafone Idea (12.6 crore), and BSNL (3.7 crore).
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India’s wireless subscriber base fell to 1,153.72 million by September 2024, a regular decline of 0.87%. The urban and rural markets saw reductions of 0.80% and 0.95%, respectively.
Except for Odisha, all other service areas verified subscriber losses during the period and important challenges in the telecom sector amid rising competition and cost pressures.
