Telecom customer base rises nearly 2% to 1074 million with Reliance Jio entry in Sept:Trai

Telecom customer base rises nearly 2% to 1074 million with Reliance Jio entry in Sept:Trai
"Total wireless subscriber base increased from 1,028.88 million at the end of August 2016 to 1,049.74 million at the end of September 2016, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 2.03%," Trai said. Image Source: IANS
By PTI
Updated: Sat, Dec 10, 2016
12:20 pm
New Delhi , PTI
RELATED NEWS
Telecom sector got $10 billion FDI in eight months of 2016-17 Telecom sector got $10 billion FDI in eight months of 2016-17
Telecom wireless subscribers decline for second consecutive month in August Telecom wireless subscribers decline for second consecutive month in August
Telecom customer base shrinks to 1,053 million in August Telecom customer base shrinks to 1,053 million in August
Trai slaps penalty of Rs 3,150 crore on Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Trai slaps penalty of Rs 3,150 crore on Airtel, Vodafone, Idea
Telcos liable for bill payment issues on mobile apps: Trai Telcos liable for bill payment issues on mobile apps: Trai

Cutting short two months of decline, telecom subscriber base rose by 1.98% to 1074.24 million in the country at September-end mainly boosted by the formal launch of services by newcomer Reliance Jio.

"The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,053.40 million at the end of August 2016 to 1,074.24 million at the end of September 2016, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 1.98%," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said on Friday.

In July and August, telecom subscriber base declined by 0.1% and 0.52% respectively.

The growth was led by Reliance Jio which reported 15.97 million customers on its network after its formal launch on September 5. This is for the first time that Trai's monthly subscriber report included customer base of Reliance Jio.

"Total wireless subscriber base increased from 1,028.88 million at the end of August 2016 to 1,049.74 million at the end of September 2016, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 2.03%," Trai said.

Bharti Airtel followed Reliance Jio in terms of net subscriber addition by adding 2.43 million customers. Idea Cellular added 1.91 million customer and BSNL 1.4 million.

ALSO READ: Telecom customer base shrinks to 1,053 million in August 

Vodafone net customer addition in September was 525,281, Aircel 426,862, Reliance Communications 97,942, Quadrant (Videocon Punjab) 6,273 and MTNL 5,641.

Tata Teleservices lost 1.22 million customers, Telenor 367,162 and Sistema Shyam lost 340,743 customers.

In terms of growth rate, public sector firm BSNL led the chart with 1.52% growth in its customer base followed by Idea, Bharti Airtel, Aircel and Vodafone.

However, wireline or landline subscriber base in the country continued to decline to 24.49 million at the end of September 2016 from 24.51 million at the end of August 2016. BSNL and MTNL continued to be biggest losers of landline subscriber base and private operators Airtel and Vodafone biggest gainers.

The broadband subscriber base in the country grew by around 12% driven by 3G and 4G uptake in mobile segment.

Wireless or mobile broadband subscriber in September grew by 13.31% to 173.87 million from 153.45 million in August 2016. The fixed line broadband connections grew by 0.94% to 17.84 million from 17.67 million.

"Top five service providers constituted 78.62% market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of September 2016. These service providers were Bharti Airtel (46.19 million), Vodafone (35.94 million), Idea Cellular (30.72 million), BSNL (21.60 million) and Reliance Communications Group (16.74 million)," Trai said.

In September 4.99 million subscribers requested for mobile number portability taking the total number of requests to over 239 million. 

ALSO READ: Trai slaps penalty of Rs 3,150 crore on Airtel, Vodafone, Idea 

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. You can find out more by clicking this link

Close