NE BUSINESS BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, SEPT 26
Lockdown that started in the last week of March and lasted till May-end, changed the list of essentials in daily life. Broadband has become the most crucial thing after food, clothes, and shelter following the work-from-home norm. The need for broadband or optical fiber has suddenly shot up. In the very first month of the unlock, Jio added over 17,000 connections of JioFiber in Gujarat.
The telecom regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), issued the subscription numbers on Thursday, which reveals that after adding over 17,000 wired or JioFiber connections, the operator has over 1.54 lakh connections in the state, by end of June 30, 2020.
Airtel too added about 2,300 connections in the state while Vodafone Idea added 120 connections in the state during the month. After additions, Airtel had 1.01 lakh users and Vodafone Idea had over 32,000 subscribers by end of June in Gujarat.
At present, Jio offers JioFiber services in over 15 cities of Gujarat, including Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar, and others. Recently, the company has announced a few new plans for JioFiber users which is likely to push the demand further on the higher side.
The Trai report also shared the wireless or mobile subscription numbers of the state in June 2020. As per the report, Jio and BSNL continued to add mobile users during the period in Gujarat.
By the end of June 2020, Jio added 3.64 lakh mobile users and BSNL added less than 500 subscribers in the state. As June was the first month of unlocking, there was a high demand for new connections which led to a growth of about 60,000 in the total number of mobile users in the state from 6.61 crore users in May 2020 to 6.62 crore users in June 2020.
After the addition, Jio’s subscription numbers in Gujarat increased from 2.39 crore in May to 2.43 crore in June, while BSNL’s number remained around 61,000 in June.
However, Vodafone Idea and Airtel continued witnessing fall. In June, Vodafone Idea lost 2.76 lakh mobile users from 2.61 crore in May to 2.58 crore in June while Airtel lost about less than 30,000 from 99.50 lakh users in May to 99.20 lakh users in June in Gujarat.
