Reliance Jio dethrones BSNL, becomes market leader in wireline services

NEW DELHI: Reliance Jio, the largest telecom operator in the wireless segment, has also become the market leader in the wireline segment as well. Latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) shows Jio has pipped state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) with a 28.31% market share as against the latter’s 27.46% in the wireline services. Jio added 0.26 million new wireline customers in August 2022, taking its customer base to 7.35 million as against BSNL’s 71.32 million.

BSNL is facing stiff competition from private telcos and not able to perform as per the expectation. The firm continued to lose subscribers in both wireline and wireless segments. BSNL lost 0.56 million wireless and 15,734 wireline subscribers in August 2022. In July 2022, it lost nearly 810,000 wireless subscribers and 54,375 wireline subscribers.

However, to give a lifeline to the ailing telco, the government announced a Rs 1.64 lakh crore package. Meanwhile, Jio added 3.28 million new mobile users in August 2022, taking its customer base to 419.24 million. Airtel added 0.32 million new users and Vodafone Idea lost 1.9 million users.

The net addition of wireless users in August for the Indian telecom industry was 10,81,415 users. In terms of active wireless subscribers, Airtel has the maximum proportion of 98.31% of its active wireless subscribers (VLR).