MUMBAI : Telecom subscriber base fell by 8.2 million in April, shows data shared by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). While rural subscriber base increased marginally in the month when the country was under a strict lockdown, urban mobile subscriber base dipped by 9 million in month marked by large scale exodus of urban migrants.
Uttar Pradesh was the only service area that reported a marginal growth 1.3% in wireless subscription. Every other service area reported decline in subscription.
Vodafone Idea lost 4.5 million subscribers, while Bharti Airtel’s subscriber-base declined by 5.2 million in the given month. Reliance Jio on the other hand added 1.6 million subscribers. Led by this, the Reliance Industries (RIL) subsidiary now commands 33.85% wireless market share, followed by Airtel and Vodafone Idea with 28.06% and 27.37% market share respectively.
The number of telephone subscribers in India declined nearly 1% to 1,169.44 million by the end of April from 1,177.97 million in March. Urban telephone subscription dropped to 647.19 million in April from 656.46 million at the end of March. The rural subscription increased to 522.24 million from 521.51 million during the period under review.
In a major reflection of the population movement trends during the lockdown, the percentage of active mobile subscribers in their home locations dropped to 83.3% from 85.4% in the previous month. During the month, which was marked by the large-scale migration of people from the metro cities to their villages and hometowns during the lockdown imposed on the 24th of March, the urban wireless tele-density decreased from 138.41% to 136.22%. Rural tele-density increased marginally to 58.61% to 58.54%.
Airtel continues to command the highest active subscriber share at 95.26%. Followed by Vodafone Idea at 88.5% (compared to 92% in March) and Jio at 78.75% compared to 80.93% in March. Jio commands 57.68% of the broadband market share followed by Airtel (21.41%) and Vodafone Idea (16.47%).
Note that due to the unprecedented nature of the lockdown, many low-end subscribers were not able to recharge from retail outlets forcing the telecom operators to extend the validity of their mobile plans. In April, Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI), representing private telcos, has written to various states urging them to issue "requisite instructions in the state/UT to enable 'mobile recharging retailers' to open their outlets for offering telecom services to the public", and also issue passes for movement of select staff who manage these outlets.
Private telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea further announced the extension of validity for pre-paid mobiles accounts of low-income customers till 3rd May after Trai scrutinised the math behind the selective validity extension they had earlier announced. The value of such benefits is more than Rs. 600 crore, according to COAI estimates.
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