The telecom landscape in India witnesses a familiar trend as Vodafone Idea grapples with a continuous decline in mobile phone subscribers while Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel register gains, as per the latest data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
In December 2023, Vodafone Idea saw a loss of 13.68 lakh mobile subscribers, marking a downturn from the 10.73 lakh subscribers lost in November, the latest TRAI report said.
Contrastingly, Reliance Jio strengthened its position by adding 39.94 lakh subscribers in December, an uptick from the 34.47 lakh added in November.
Bharti Airtel also witnessed growth, securing an addition of 18.5 lakh subscribers, slightly surpassing the previous month’s figures.
TRAI’s data indicates a notable surge in combined mobile connection additions, escalating by 35.78 per cent to 43.22 lakh from November to the end of December.
However, Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) faced a setback, shedding 1.5 lakh wireless subscribers in December, reflecting an 84 percent decrease compared to the preceding month.
In terms of active mobile subscriber count, Bharti Airtel leads the pack, commanding over 98.9 percent of active subscribers. Reliance Jio experienced a slight dip in active subscribers, dropping to 92.32 percent in December, down from 93.87 percent in November, according to TRAI.
The number of mobile phone subscribers increased from 1,154.17 million at the end of November to 1,158.49 million at the end of December 2023. India has 633.44 million mobile phone customers in urban areas and 525.05 million mobile phone customers in rural areas in 2023.
