BSNL's fixed-broadband market base sees sharp decline in the first quarter of FY23

BSNL's Fixed-Broadband market share fell 75 basis points quarter over quarter to 13.4%. Whereas Reliance Jio, on the other hand, increased its Fixed-Broadband market share to 21.4% along with increasing its fibre-to-the-home market base to 29%.

The fixed-broadband (FBB) market is seen losing territory to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). BSNL, formerly regarded as the segment's monarch, is currently lagging behind Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio in terms of market share.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) performance indicator report for Q1 FY23, the total number of FBB users with wired internet increased from 28.73 million to 1.5 million QoQ. As revealed by ICICI Securities, the Fixed-Broadband subscriber base grew by nearly 5.3% QoQ AND 21.8% YoY.

How did each telecom operator fare during the quarter

According to ICICI Securities report, BSNL's Fixed-Broadband market share fell 75 basis points quarter over quarter to 13.4%. Whereas Reliance Jio, on the other hand, increased its Fixed-Broadband market share to 21.4% along with increasing its fibre-to-the-home market base to 29%.

Following Jio, at the second spot, Airtel clutched Fixed-Broadband market base of 16.9%, advancing 260 basis points year over year. Its total fibre-to-the-home subscriber base increased to 21.2 million in the quarter, progress at 11.8% quarter over quarter and 11.1% year over year.

It is clear that consumers are no longer looking for Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connections anymore and the focus has now shifted to fibre-to-the-home connections resulting in increased demand of FFTH connections. This could also be on eof the greatest factors contributing towards BSNL's rapid market share decline in the Fixed-broadband sector As the report suggests, the number of DSL subscribers has decreased and now stands at 2.8 million, declining by 9.7% quarter over quarter and 55.8% year of year.

The fixed-broadband market has witnessed a decline for the government-led telecom operator, whereas Airtel and Jio on the other hand are seeing additions in majority of the new fibre connections. Both fixed-broadband and fibre-to-the-home markets now have Jio as the market leader. While Airtel is on the second position, BSNL has dropped to the third.