Indian telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio have lost mobile phone customers in July 2024, the latest TRAI data shows.
The drop in mobile phone customers across India follows the steep increase in their mobile rates from July. BSNL, India government-owned telecom operator, has gained mobile phone customers. BSNL did not increase its mobile rates despite financial challenges.
Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio have also lost mobile Internet customers on their mobile network.
Total mobile phone customers
Reliance Jio’s mobile phone customer base reached 475.768 million in July 2024 from 476.527 million in June 2023.
Bharti Airtel has reported phone customer base of 387.326 million in July 2024 as compared with 389.020 million in June 2023.
Vodafone Idea’s phone customer base reached 215.882 million in July 2024 against 217.296 million in June 2023.
BSNL has reported phone customer base of 88.512 million in July 2024 as compared with 85.581 million in June 2023.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s latest data for July 2024 has revealed trends in wireless, wireline, and broadband subscribers. Here are the key highlights:
Wireline Subscribers
Wireline (landline) subscribers grew from 35.11 million in June 2024 to 35.56 million by the end of July, marking a net increase of 0.45 million, a growth rate of 1.29 percent.
Urban areas accounted for 91.39 percent of total wireline subscribers, while rural areas made up 8.61 percent.
Overall wireline tele-density rose slightly from 2.50 percent in June to 2.53 percent in July. Urban tele-density was at 6.49 percent, while rural tele-density remained low at 0.34 percent.
Wireless Subscribers
India’s wireless subscribers dropped marginally from 1,170.53 million in June to 1,169.61 million in July, showing a 0.08 percent decline.
Urban wireless subscriptions rose from 635 million to 635.46 million (0.07 percent growth), while rural subscriptions fell from 535.53 million to 534.15 million (-0.26 percent).
Wireless tele-density decreased from 83.45 percent in June to 83.32 percent in July. The urban wireless tele-density dropped to 126.93 percent, while rural tele-density fell to 59.14 percent.
M2M Cellular Connections
Machine-to-Machine (M2M) cellular mobile connections grew from 52.52 million in June to 53.67 million in July.
Bharti Airtel leads the M2M market with 28.46 million connections (53.02 percent share), followed by Vodafone Idea (27.71 percent), Reliance Jio (13.68 percent), and BSNL (5.58 percent).
Broadband Subscribers
Broadband – both wired and wireless — subscribers increased from 940.75 million in June to 946.19 million in July, a monthly growth rate of 0.58 percent.
The number of wired broadband subscribers grew marginally from 41.83 million in June to 41.98 million in July.
The number of mobile internet users rose from 898.22 million to 903.38 million in the same period.
Leading Service Providers
Top Broadband Providers: Reliance Jio leads with 488.63 million broadband subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel (284.03 million), Vodafone Idea (126.72 million), and BSNL (29.61 million).
Wired Broadband: Reliance Jio dominates the wired broadband market with 12.86 million subscribers in July vs 12.41 million in June, followed by Bharti Airtel (8.16 million vs 8.04 million), BSNL (4.19 million vs 4.19 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (2.26 million vs 2.26 million), and Kerala Vision Broadband (1.18 million vs 1.16 million).
Mobile broadband: In mobile broadband, Jio leads with 475.77 million subscribers vs 476.53 million in June, followed by Bharti Airtel (275.88 million vs 273.32 million), Vodafone Idea (126.72 million vs 127.82 million), and BSNL (25.42 million vs 20.83 million).
Baburajan Kizhakedath