Sunil Mittal promoted Bharti Airtel has showed that the mobile operator is still the undisputed leader of the Indian telecom market.
COAI, telecom industry association for GSM operators, on Thursday shared a report on the number of mobile subscribers for their telecom network operators.
The note indicates that Bharti Airtel added a whopping 2.46 million mobile phone subscribers in September. Mobile industry stakeholders remember that Mukesh Ambani offered Jio 4G offers – free voice and data and roaming – on September 5.
Bharti Airtel’s 2.46 million paid SIM additions is incredible considering the fact that Jio added only 16 million free users on to its network.
However, Airtel’s 2.46 million phone user additions include customers on 2G, 3G and 4G networks. Whereas, Reliance Jio is only offering free 4G SIM cards to enjoy free voice, data and roaming till 31 December 2016.
ALSO READ: Jio 4G data plan to hit Airtel’s premium customer base
While several telecom industry reports said that Bharti Airtel will not be affected by the launch of Jio due to its strong spectrum and investment plans, Fitch Ratings today said Jio’s data plans may affect premium customers of Bharti Airtel.
Despite the pressure from Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel increased its GSM market share to 33.07 percent in September 2016 from 32.96 percent in August 2016.
On the other hand, Vodafone noticed its market share dropping to 25.53 percent from 25.64 percent during the month of intense competition.
Idea Cellular has also increased its mobile market share in India to 22.75 percent from 22.65 percent in August.
Telenor India, which is yet to identify a buyer, lost mobile market share to 6.72 percent from 6.82 percent. The GSM report says Aircel, which will be part of Reliance Communications, has retained its market share at 11.47 percent.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
