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Vodafone Idea, Airtel Lose Over 59 Lakh Mobile Users In June: TRAI

With exception to Reliance Jio all other operators lost mobile subscribers in June.

Customers gather outside a multi-brand mobile phone store displaying signage for Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Vodafone Group Plc in the old Delhi area of New Delhi, India. (Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg)
Customers gather outside a multi-brand mobile phone store displaying signage for Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Vodafone Group Plc in the old Delhi area of New Delhi, India. (Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg)

Vodafone Idea Ltd. and Bharti Airtel Ltd. lost about 48.2 lakh and 11.3 lakh users, respectively, in June, even as rival Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. added nearly 45 lakh customers strengthening its hold in the mobile telephony market, TRAI’s subscriber tally for the month showed.

India's overall wireless subscriber base shrunk by 0.28% to 114 crore at the end of June 2020, recording declines in both urban and rural areas, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's monthly subscription data.

Monthly decline rates of urban and rural mobile subscription were 0.18% and 0.40%, respectively, data showed.

The share of urban and rural mobile subscribers in total wireless user base was pegged at 54.3% and 45.7%, respectively at the end of June.

With exception to Reliance Jio -- India's youngest, now the largest telco, all other operators lost mobile subscribers in June. During the month, Jio gained 44.9 lakh subscribers, propping up its wireless customer base to 39.7 crore.

Bharti Airtel lost almost 11.3 lakh users in the mobile category, and its subscriber base stood at 31.6 crore subscribers in June. The subscriber base of Bharti Airtel included Tata Teleservices.

Vodafone Idea's subscriber base fell by 48.2 lakh during the month to 30.5 crore.

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The total number of broadband subscribers in India rose from 683.7 million (68.3 crore) at the end of May to 698.23 million (69.8 crore) at the end of June, a growth rate of nearly 2%.

Top five service providers constituted 98.93% market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of June, TRAI said.

"These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. (398.31 million), Bharti Airtel (151.30 million), Vodafone Idea (116.45 million), BSNL (23 million)...," it said.