Telecom Sector Maintains Momentum as TRAI Releases November Data

TRAI has released the numbers for the telecom sector for the month of November 2021. The sector as a whole carried the momentum from the previous month, while Vodafone Idea took the worst hit in the last 5 months.

Telecom Sector Grows as a Whole as Vi Crashes

In November, the telecom sector saw a net 1.42 million additions overall, with wireless accounting for 1.20 million additions. While October saw marginal growth of 0.02% in wireless subscribers, the month of November saw 5 times as much growth. Reliance Jio, yet again, lead the charge, adding more than 2 million new subscribers, while Bharti Airtel managed to add about 1.32 million new users. Vi, on the other hand, lost out on 1.9 million users in November, its steepest fall since June, when it lost 4.3 million users.

Market share in wireless remained heavily tilted towards private telcos, accounting for over 90% of total wireless users in India. Jio retained its crown, with a 36.71% market share. Airtel followed at an arm's length with a 30.43% market share, while Vi remained a distant third; its market share dipped below 23% for the first time in 2021, dropping to 22.88%.

The country as a whole saw a net rise, as most of the circles registered growth in wireless users. However, 9 circles saw red, the most notable ones being Delhi and Mumbai.

The wireline market saw similar growth to that of October, adding 0.22 million users at a monthly growth rate of 0.96%. The latest figures reported a total of 23.5 million wireline users. Unsurprisingly, most of the wireline users are based in the cities, with only 8.28% of wireline users being based in rural areas. Along with this, in the wireline segment, the competition between the private and public players is more even. BSNL leads the market with almost a third of the market share; Airtel, Jio, and MTNL enjoyed a double-digit market share.

During August and September, the telecom sector saw significant customer losses. September was the worst month of the year, when the sector lost 20 million subscribers. However, October managed to arrest the fall and November continued the turnaround.