Reliance Jio Adds Most Active Users For Second Month In A Row In August

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. remained India's largest telecom operator by active users for the second consecutive month, adding more regularly paying subscribers than Bharti Airtel Ltd. in August.

The Mukesh Ambani-controlled carrier added as many as 41.5 lakh active subscribers in August, compared to its six-month average addition of 36.6 lakh, according to data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India that's released with a lag. Reliance Jio's active user addition surpassed Bharti Airtel for the first time in 2021 in July.

The Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti Airtel added 7.7 lakh active users in August--significantly lower than its six-month average accretion of 17 lakh.

Vodafone Idea Ltd., however, continued to lose such users, but narrowed it to 19 lakh in August.

Reliance Jio’s and Bharti Airtel’s active subscriber base grew 1.2% and 0.2%, respectively, over the preceding month whereas Vodafone Idea’s active subscriber share fell 0.8%.

Active Subscriber Base

• Bharti Airtel: 34.68 crore.

• Vodafone Idea: 23.65 crore.

• Reliance Jio: 35.1 crore.

Active Subscriber Market Share

Bharti Airtel's active subscriber market share remained stable in August, while Reliance Jio adding 33 basis points. On the other hand, Vodafone Idea continues to lose its active market share.

Gross Subscriber Addition

The telecom industry lost 1.1 lakh gross subscribers in August after making gains in June and July. Reliance Jio accumulated 4.7 times more subscribers than Bharti Airtel in August, and has totted up more such users than Bharti Airtel for the seventh consecutive month.

The depletion of gross subscribers for Vodafone Idea narrowed in August to 8.3 lakh compared to its one-year average monthly loss of 24.5 lakh.

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio saw their gross subscriber base rise 0.04% and 0.15% over the preceding month, respectively, in August. Vodafone Idea’s gross subscriber base fell 0.31%.

Gross Subscriber Base

• Bharti Airtel: 35.42 crore.

• Vodafone Idea: 27.11 crore.

• Reliance Jio: 44.39 crore.

Industry Active Subscribers

The Indian telecom industry’s active subscribers rose for the second straight month in August. It accumulated around 23.7 lakh such users compared to its six-month average net addition of 17.8 lakh.

Inactive Subscribers

Bharti Airtel’s inactive user count narrowed for the second month in a row in August. Reliance Jio’s inactive subscriber base, too, narrowed in August after widening for the past seven months. However, the metric widened for Vodafone Idea for the seventh straight month.