Vodafone Idea admits to error in subscriber numbers for UP (W) circle

Vodafone Idea, which reported to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) that its net addition of subscribers in January stood at 1.7 million, has turned out to be wrong. Sources said the operator has informed the regulator that there was some error on part of a company executive in plotting the data for UP (West) and it has now sent the correct numbers. It could not be ascertained what the correct number is and whether the company added or lost users during the month. Trai is expected to put out the correct numbers next week.

The net addition figures had surprised analysts as they had seen a big jump by addition of 3.7 million users in just one circle — UP (West). Overall, of the 22 telecom circles, the company had lost subscribers in 18. The reported net addition, which has now turned out to be wrong, had come for the company after a gap of 15 months.

A query sent to Vodafone Idea regarding the matter remained unanswered while attempts to reach Trai did not materialise.

Though the company had earlier this week reported to Trai that it added users on a net basis in January, if active subscribers are taken into account, there was a loss of 0.3 million users on a sequential basis. The loss, though, has moderated over the last few months. The company has been losing an average of 3.4 million active subscribers in the past 12 months. The active user base of Vodafone Idea stood at 256 million as on January 2021.