The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently released its monthly report for February 2021, highlighting the performance of the telecom service providers (TSPs). In a surprising turn of events, Vodafone Idea (Vi) finally added net subscribers at the end of the month, and hopefully, this time, it is not an error in the numbers provided by the telco. Further, Bharti Airtel lost its rally of adding more subscribers than Reliance Jio continuously since Jio added the most number of subscribers during the month, amongst all the operators. Let’s take a detailed look at how the numbers for February look like.
Reliance Jio Added 4.2 Million Subscribers During February
Reliance Jio added a net 4.2 million (42,66,819) subscribers during the month as compared to Airtel’s 3.7 (37,37,645) million subscribers. Vodafone Idea added 0.65 million (6,52,625) subscribers, which is the first time for the telco since October 2019 that it added net subscribers. As for the state-run telecom operators, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) lost 0.35 million (3,59,157) subscribers, and the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) lost 5,261 subscribers.
Wireless Subscribers Grew in Almost Every State
Every state or circle saw an increase in wireless subscribers except Bihar and Himachal Pradesh. Mumbai saw an increase in wireless subscribers by 4.83%, which is the biggest growth for any circle during the month. The second circle that saw the highest growth in wireless subscribers was Punjab, with a growth rate of 1.95%. The addition of wireless subscribers in most parts of India is not a surprising thing since more and more budgets smartphones are entering the market, and the telecom operators are pushing to convert legacy network users to their 4G services. Further, the work from home culture is also driving people to purchase more wireless connections for data and voice calling needs. In terms of subscriber market share, Reliance Jio was again at the top with 35.54%, followed by Bharti Airtel with 29.83%, Vodafone Idea with 24.20%, BSNL with 10.15% and MTNL with 0.28%. It is sad to see that BSNL’s subscriber market share is declining with every quarter and month that follows. Jio must have seen a small positive effect in the numbers because of launching the JioPhone 2021 offer in late February.
