Telecom subscription turns positive after 5 months, Voda Idea continues to dip

Mumbai: As the country continues to unlock in phases, telecom subscriber base showed positive growth in July after five months of continuous dip, according to data provided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,160.52 million at the end of June to 1,164 million at the end of July, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.30%.

Total wireless subscribers (2G, 3G & 4G) increased by almost 4 million over the preceding month to 1,144.18 million at the end of July, registering a monthly growth rate of 0.30%.

However, Vodafone Idea continued to report subscriber losses after losing 3.7 million subscribers during the month. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio reported addition of 3.2 million and 3.5 million subscribers, respectively during the month. The wireless market share of Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea stands at 35%, 27.9% and 26.3%, respectively.

Vodafone Idea management had stated that their user base was impacted by the inability to recharge during the lockdown months in the June quarter but it has also registered a dip in July.

All service areas showed growth except Mumbai, West Bengal, U.P. (W), Karnataka, Bihar and Haryana in their wireless subscribers during July. Kolkata service area showed maximum growth of 2.03% in its wireless subscriber base during the month followed by UP East. Mumbai, West Bengal and UP West service areas reported maximum subscriber losses.

Airtel continued to lead active subscriber user base with 97% active subscribers compared to 89.3% of Vodafone Idea and 78% of Reliance Jio.

Wired broadband service user base has also improved rapidly during the pandemic from 19 million in February to 20.13 million in July.

The overall tele-density in India increased from 85.85% in June to 86.03 % in July. Urban tele-density increased from 137.35% at the end of June to 137.47% at the end of July and rural tele-density also increased from 58.96% at the end of June to 59.14% at the end of July.

All circles reported positive subscriber growth across both wireless and wireline segments unlike the losses reported since March.

In wireline segment, on monthly basis except circle of B Category circle of all categories showed growth rate in their number of wireline subscribers during the month of July, 2020. On yearly basis, only Circle C and Metro Circle showed growth in their number of wireline subscribers. However, on yearly basis all wireless circles have registered declining rate in their subscriber base.