Reliance Jio Adds Most Net Users Again as Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel Plummet

On Saturday, TRAI released its monthly Telecom Report, reflecting upon the industry's performance in May. The report should be interpreted as more of a sign of things to come, if the trends are anything to go by.

Telecom Sector Records a Net Subscriber Loss; Reliance Jio Still Shines

It is a testament to Reliance Jio's dominance given that all the other telcos recorded a fall in net subscribers. May was a poor month for the sector as a whole; this was the first month in a long time to record a net reduction in total wireless subscribers in the country. The sector lost a net 6.7 million users in May. Worryingly, May 2021 also represents a net subscriber loss across all 22 telecom circles.

Surprisingly, Bharti Airtel took the most of this hit. The telco recorded a net loss of almost 5 million users, on the back 16 straight months with a net positive addition. Vodafone Idea also took a similar hit, losing about 4.28 million subscribers. BSNL, MTNL and RCom lost a total of about 0.95 million subscribers together.

In terms of active users, Jio has slipped to 4th, coming in after Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and the defunct Reliance Communications. India's largest telco only had about 78% of its total users actively using its services; in contrast, Bharti Airtel, its biggest rival, has 98% active users, representing a vast gulf.

Reliance Jio retains the largest market share, which now stands at 36.64%. Bharti Airtel's market share shrunk to 29.60%, and Vodafone Idea's share stood at 23.59%. BSNL and MTNL, the two public-owned telcos, held a joint 10.17% market share.

Wireline Sees a Massive Jump; Broadband Sees a Dip

Interestingly, wireline saw a jump of over 6% in users. Here, BSNL dominated the growth, registering 1.1 million of the 1.3 total new additions. Reliance Jio added about 0.17 million users and Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel added about 20 thousand among themselves.

BSNL also held the largest market share in wireline, holding more than a third of the market. Bharti Airtel had the second largest market share with 22.35%. Reliance Jio followed up with 17.11%; there are chances that Jio will overtake Airtel soon. Along with these, MTNL, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone Idea, Quadrant and Reliance Communications held the rest of the market.

However, Reliance Jio dominates the broadband market, which includes both wireless broadband, and wireline.  The telco held onto a majority 55.65% market. This market share is almost 20 times as large as BSNL's, and at more than twice as large as its closest rival, Bharti Airtel. Together, broadband had 780.82 million users in May, down 0.33% from April.