Airtel Adds 4.4 Million Subscribers In Nov While Vi Loses 2.9 Million

In the month of November, Bharti Airtel continued to add wireless subscribers with the telecom operator gaining 4.4 million users during the month, while rival Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd's customer base grew by 1.9 million, according to data from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released on Thursday. Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea Ltd (Vi) lost 2.9 million customers.

With this, Vi's market share shrunk to 25.10%, while Airtel's expanded to 28.97% and Reliance Jio remains India's biggest telecom operator by market share at 35.34%

"All service areas except West Bengal, Rajasthan, Kolkata, Jammu and Kashmir, and Mumbai showed growth in wireless subscribers during the November. Madhya Pradesh service area showed maximum growth of 1% in wireless customer base during the month," TRAI said.

However, despite the market share, Reliance Jio's active wireless subscribers were the lowest among the top three telcos. Of the total customers, Jio's active subscriber base was at 79.55% as on 30 November. Airtel and Vi's active subscribers, or active users on a mobile network, were at 89.01% and 96.63%, respectively.

Jio topped the wireless or mobile broadband segment with 408.29 million customers as of 30 November, while Airtel followed with 171.74 million users. Vi had 120.96 million mobile broadband users and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) had 18.40 million.