Jio, Vi lose subscribers for 2nd month in January; Airtel gains
Premium- Reliance Jio lost 9.3 mn subscribers, while Voda Idea lost 0.3 mn in January, shows Trai data
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Vodafone Idea Ltd lost customers for the second consecutive month in January while Bharti Airtel Ltd added subscribers amid the cascading effect of tariff increases implemented in November by the telecom operators.
Jio lost 9.3 million subscribers, while Vi lost 0.3 million in January, showed data issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday.
Jio, the country’s top mobile phone operator, had a total subscriber base of 406.3 million as of January-end, lower than December’s 418.7 million. The company owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani lost nearly 13 million customers last December.
Vodafone Idea’s total subscriber base was 265.1 million as of January-end, marginally lower than 265.5 million the previous month, when the third-largest carrier lost 1.6 million users.
Tariff increases by all carriers by about 20% in November have led several customers to cancel or pause recharges of their second or third connection, according to analysts. This sudden reduction in customer base for carriers is referred to as SIM consolidation and is likely to continue for the quarter ending 31 March as the full impact of the tariff hike takes effect, the analysts said.
Bharti Airtel, however, continued to gain subscribers, taking its overall base to 365.4 million for January-end, slightly higher than the 355.7 million at the end of December.
Overall, the total subscriber base in the country fell by 9.3 million to 1,145.2 million as of 31 January.
Both Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel have downplayed the subscriber loss because of SIM consolidation. Vodafone Idea’s managing director and chief executive Ravinder Takkar said that it continued to add 4G customers, which in turn indicates better earnings for the carrier.
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The average revenue per user (Arpu), a key metric of profitability, for carriers, has also been on the rise for all carriers after the tariff hikes.
Bharti Airtel recorded the highest Arpu of ₹163 in the December quarter among peers, followed by Jio at ₹158 and Vodafone Idea at ₹115. Higher Arpu would also translate to better profits for carriers that have been offering rock-bottom tariffs for many years amid intense competition.
A second round of tariff increase is also expected in the fiscal year starting 1 April, top executives of both carriers had said during their respective earnings calls recently.
More than 1,006.57 million wireless subscribers were active on the date of peak active subscriber base in January 2022, the telecom regulator said. The proportion of active wireless subscribers was approximately 87.89% of the total wireless subscriber base. Active subscribers are those who use their SIMs at least once a month.
Bharti Airtel had the maximum 98.18% of active wireless subscribers against its total wireless subscribers on the date of peak active subscriber base in January.
MTNL had the least active subscriber base at 18.37% of its total subscriber base in the same period.
Reliance Jio recorded about 368.33 million active subscribers in January, placing its active subscriber base proportion at 90.68%, while the proportion for Vodafone Idea stood at 86.3% as it recorded an active subscriber base of 228.81 million as of January-end.
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