Airtel adds 15.9 lakh users in Feb; Jio, Vi lose
Bharti Airtel was the only telco to add 15.9 lakh wireless users in February, while Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, rebranded as Vi, lost 36.6 lakh users and 15.3 lakh users, respectively, Trai data released. Two public sector units, BSNL and MTNL lost 5,097 and 1.1 lakh subscribers, respectively.
The total wireless subscribers decreased from 114.5 crore at the end of January to 114.1 crore in February-end, recording a monthly decline rate of 0.32%. Wireless users in urban areas decreased from 62.7 crore at Jan-end to 62.5 crore at Feb-end, while the wireless users in rural reduced from 51.8 crore to 51.6 crore during the same period.
The monthly decline rates of urban and rural wireless users were 0.31% and 0.34%, respectively. During February, the share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in the total number of wireless users was 54.77% and 45.23%, respectively.
As of February 28, the private access service providers held 89.74% market share, two PSUs BSNL and MTNL held 10.26% share. Among the private ones, Reliance Jio held a maximum 35.28% market share, followed by Airtel at 31.37% and Vodafone Idea at 23.09%, respectively. BSNL and MTNL held 9.98% and 0.28% market share, respectively.
Out of the total 114.1 crore wireless users, 101.6 crore or 89.01% are active users, the data showed. Airtel has a maximum of 98.08% active wireless users against its total wireless subscribers, while MTNL has a minimum of 19.21%.
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The data showed wireline subscribers increasing from 2.42 crore by Jan-end to 2.45 million by Feb-end. BSNL and MTNL, both held 41.95% of the wireline market share as of February. Jio held 24%, followed by Airtel at 23.52% and Tata Tele at 6.52%.
In broadband, the total users declined 0.01% from 78.34 crore at Jan-end to 78.33 crore at Feb-end. Jio leads the pack with 40.7 crore broadband subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel at 21.3 crore, Vodafone Idea 12.1 crore, BSNL 2.6 crore, and Atria Convergence (20 lakh).
Overall, the number of telephone subscribers in India dipped 0.29% from 116.9 crore at Jan-end to 116.6 crore at Feb-end, the data showed. In this category, the urban telephone users decreased from 64.9 crore in Jan-end to 64.7 crore in Feb-end. The rural subscription also decreased from 52 crore to 51.8 crore during the same period. The monthly decline rates of urban and rural telephone users were 0.25% and 0.34%, respectively, during February.
Meanwhile, the Bharti Airtel stock surged 1.74% to Rs 735 as compared to the previous session close of Rs 722.55 on the NSE. The Vi share is also trading 0.71% up at Rs 9.97 on the National Stock Exchange.