Better 4G, free calling helps Reliance Jio outpace all telecom operators in June subscriber additions

Key Highlights

• Jio added over 60 lakh subscribers in June.
• Total subscribers added by other incumbents in June was 4,067,334.
• Idea Cellular net additions was the lowest among the incumbent operators.

Contrary to analyst expectations that subscriber additions for Reliance Jio will slow down post it begins charging customers, net additions in June were more than all other telecom operators combined, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)data revealed.

Reliance Jio’s net addition in June stood at 60,25,415 while India's largest telecom operator Airtel's net additions stood a little over 20 lakh and Vodafone and Idea net additions were at 9 lakh and 35,541, respectively.

Total number of net additions by telecom operators like - Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone and Idea amounted to 4,067,334. 

The Mukesh Ambani-backed company has been on the top of TRAI's list ever since its launch in September 2016 in net subscriber additions and June was no exception. Jio's market share has risen from 7.88% in January 2017 to 10.39% in June 2017.

Growth in wireless subscribers for Jio stood at 5.14% for June, which was higher than the previous months of April and May.

In the months of April and May, Jio’s ‘growth in wireless subscribers’ was at 3.56% and 4.25% respectively. The company started charging for its services for the first time since in launch in April. However during the same month of May, Jio had added more subscribers than Airtel, BSNL and Vodafone combined.

In May the number of inactive wireless subscribers was far more as compared to inactive subscribers in August 2016 as this chart by Care Ratings based on TRAI data revealed on July 28.

“The proportion of active wireless subscribers was approximately 86.17% of the total wireless subscriber base,” TRAI report said speaking about active subscribers in the month of June.

However Jio has once again picked up pace in net subscriber additions as its ‘rural subscriber base’ also increased from 2.8 crore (28,331,094) in May to 3 crore in June (30,076,085), as per TRAI data.

The total subscribers of Jio as per TRAI stood at 12.3 crore (123,363,870) in June. The company still remains the market leader in wireless broadband with a market share of 41.01% and 12.3 crore subscribers in June.

Total wireless subscriber base of the incumbent operators - Airtel, Vodafone and Idea stood at 28 crore, 21.19 crore and 19.6 crore respectively in June.

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