- Nationally too, Jio gains over 31 lakh mobile subscribers in May
- As per Trai’s subscriber data, the total number of mobile subscribers in Gujarat increased by 88,850 to 6.74 crore in May
NE BUSINESS BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, JULY 29
Gujarat’s largest telecom operator Reliance Jio cemented its lead in the market as it gained over 1.92 lakh mobile subscribers in May 2022 in state, according to the Trai data. With the addition, total number of subscribers of Jio in Gujarat increases to 2.61 crore by end of May 2022 with market share of 38.74%.
As per Trai’s subscriber data, the total number of mobile subscribers in Gujarat increased by 88,850 to 6.74 crore in May. Debt-ridden Vodafone Idea also posted growth with increase of 17,673 new users totaling to 2.38 crore with market share of 35.38% in state.
Airtel and state-owned telecom company BSNL witnessed loss in subscription numbers. The subscription number of Airtel was down by 95,473 and BSNL witness fall of 26,287 in May 2022 in Gujarat. By end of May 2022, the total number of subscribers of Airtel and BSNL is 1.18 crore and 55.52 lakh respectively with market share of 17.64% and 8.24%, respectively.
Nationally too, Jio gained over 31 lakh mobile subscribers in May. Airtel added 10.27 lakh subscribers in May, taking its mobile user tally to 36.21 crore. According to monthly subscriber data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Reliance Jio gained 31.11 lakh wireless subscribers, taking its mobile customer count to 40.87 crore.
Vodafone Idea lost 7.59 lakh wireless subscribers, and its subscriber base slid to 25.84 crore in the same period. In April, Jio had added 16.8 lakh wireless customers, while month-on-month gain for Bharti Airtel was at 8.16 lakh. Voda Idea had lost about 15.7 lakh customers during April.
In May, the number of telephone subscribers in India remained almost flat at 117 crore, as against 116.7 crore at the end of April 2022. “Urban telephone subscription increased from 646.99 million at the end of April-22 to 647.81 million at the end of May-22 and the rural subscription also increased from 520.82 million to 522.92 million during the same period,” TRAI said.
The monthly growth rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were 0.13% and 0.4% respectively during the month of May 2022. On the wireless side, subscriber base showed a modest monthly growth of 0.25%, to 114.5 crore at the end of May. “Wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 623.78 million at the end of April-22 to 624.55 million at the end of May-22 and wireless subscription in rural areas also increased from 518.88 million to 520.96 million during the same period,” it said.
As on May 31, 2022, the private operators held 89.9% market share in the wireless space, whereas state-owned telecom operators BSNL and MTNL had a market share of only about 10%. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) lost 5.36 lakh wireless subscribers in May, while the customer loss for Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) stood at 2,665.
Bharti Airtel had 35.4 crore active users (or 97.9% of its overall user base), while the active subscribers tally for Reliance Jio was 38.3 crore (93.7% of its overall wireless base). The total broadband subscribers increased to 79.4 crore at the end of May 2022, from 78.8 crore in April. This translated into monthly growth rate of 0.75%.
“Top five service providers constituted 98.48% market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of May 2022. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm (414.67 million), Bharti Airtel (217.09 million), Vodafone Idea (123.24 million), BSNL (25.52 million),” TRAI said.
