Reliance Jio Adds Most Active Users In March
Bharti Airtel has the highest number of active users, while Reliance Jio is the biggest operator by gross subscribers.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. added the most active users among peers in March as it snapped two straight months of decline.
The billionaire Mukesh Ambani-controlled telecom operator added 7.3 million regularly paying subscribers, the highest since October 2019, according to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. The carrier had lost such customers in January and February.
Bharti Airtel Ltd. added active users for the eighth-straight month, remaining the largest operator by the number of users who regularly recharge their phones. It added 4.8 million such subscribers in March against the six-month average of 4.5 million.
Vodafone Idea Ltd. lost 0.4 million against an average decline of 1.4 million in the last six months.
Active Users As Of May
Bharti Airtel: 344.4 million.
Jio: 331.7 million.
Vodafone Idea: 255.7 million.
Bharti Airtel increased its active subscriber market share to remain at top. Reliance Jio saw an improvement of more than 30 basis points after two months of decline. Vodafone Idea continues to lose its active market share.
Gross Subscriber Addition
Reliance Jio added 7.92 million gross subscribers in March—1.5 times higher than the combined additions by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. It outpaced Bharti Airtel for the second straight month after trailing for six straight months. Jio’s customer accretion is also its highest since October 2019.
In spite of losing active users, Vodafone Idea added gross subscribers for the second straight month. It lost gross users for 15 straight months till January 2021.
Total Subscribers As Of March
- Reliance Jio: 422.9 million
- Bharti Airtel: 352.4 million
- Vodafone Idea: 283.7 million
Industry’s New Active Users Spike
Overall, the Indian telecom industry continued to add active subscribers for the eighth straight month in March. The net additions jumped threefold to 12 million over the six-month average of 2.93 million.
Active Subscriber Base
Bharti Airtel remains the operator with the highest proportion of active users at 97.72%, followed by Vodafone Idea’s 90.13%. Reliance Jio has the lowest percentage of regularly paying users at 78.43% compared with the industry average of 84.16%.
Inactive Subscribers
While Bharti Airtel’s inactive user count continues to narrow since November, it widened for Reliance Jio for the third month on the trot. Vodafone Idea’s inactive subscriber base widened for the second straight month.