India’s telecom subscriber base grew to more than 1.17 billion in October with Bharti Airtel maintaining its leadership in mobile subscriber addition, according to the monthly report released by sector regulator TRAI on Wednesday.
This is the second consecutive month in which Airtel added the highest number of subscribers. In September, it had regained the leadership position in subscriber addition after a gap of four years. The company added 3.67 million new customers in October, taking its total wireless customer base to 330.28 million, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) report said.
Airtel was followed by Reliance Jio, which added 2.22 million new mobile customers, taking its total subscriber base to 406.35 million during the reported month.
The other four mobile service providers — Vodafone Idea Ltd. (VIL), BSNL, MTNL and Reliance Communications — reported loss of subscriber base.
VIL lost the maximum mobile customers in the month at 2.65 million subscribers, with its wireless subscriber base dipping to 292.83 million. BSNL lost 10,208 customers, MTNL 7,307 and Reliance Communications lost 1,488 mobile customers. India’s overall telecom subscriber base, however, rose to 1,171.8 million from 1,168.66 million in September.
You have reached your limit for free articles this month.
Subscription Benefits Include
Today's Paper
Find mobile-friendly version of articles from the day's newspaper in one easy-to-read list.
Unlimited Access
Enjoy reading as many articles as you wish without any limitations.
Personalised recommendations
A select list of articles that match your interests and tastes.
Faster pages
Move smoothly between articles as our pages load instantly.
Dashboard
A one-stop-shop for seeing the latest updates, and managing your preferences.
Briefing
We brief you on the latest and most important developments, three times a day.
Support Quality Journalism.
*Our Digital Subscription plans do not currently include the e-paper, crossword and print.
A letter from the Editor
Dear subscriber,
Thank you!
Your support for our journalism is invaluable. It’s a support for truth and fairness in journalism. It has helped us keep apace with events and happenings.
The Hindu has always stood for journalism that is in the public interest. At this difficult time, it becomes even more important that we have access to information that has a bearing on our health and well-being, our lives, and livelihoods. As a subscriber, you are not only a beneficiary of our work but also its enabler.
We also reiterate here the promise that our team of reporters, copy editors, fact-checkers, designers, and photographers will deliver quality journalism that stays away from vested interest and political propaganda.
Suresh Nambath
