Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Gets Lakhs of New Subscribers, BSNL SEE LOSSES

Large telecom companies Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel won new mobile subscribers in January. The number of net subscribers of government telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) continues. Last year, after the increase in tariffs of private telecom companies, the number of BSNL subscribers increased to a few months. Its subscribers are decreasing due to the company’s 5G network being present and low availability of 4G network.

According to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Bharti Airtel has received around 16.5 lakh new subscribers in January. Reliance Jio has added about 6.86 lakh new subscribers. Vodafone Idea has lost 13.4 lakh users and BSNL has lost about 1.52 lakh users. In January, the total number of broadband subscribers increased to 9,451.6 lakhs. Reliance Jio’s first place was intact in the wireless broadband market at the end of January. This is followed by Bharti Airtel’s second rank.

Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel’s wireless broadband data is based on November data last year as both these telecom companies have not informed the updated number of their subscribers in the required format in the last two months. The number of broadband users of BSNL has come down to about 3.15 crores. The total number of wireless subscribers in the country increased by about 0.05 percent to about 115.1 crore at the end of January. Along with the increase in the number of subscribers of Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, there has been growth in the user (ARPU) on the average revenue.

India in the world is one of the few countries where there is no expensive tariff for telecommunication services. However, this situation may change soon. Large telecom companies can re -increase tariffs by the end of this year. A media report recently quoted an analysis of the international brokerage firm Bernstein as saying that telecom companies could increase the tariff by 10-20 percent this year. This may be a fourth increase in tariffs in the last six years. In July last year, telecom companies raised tariffs by 25 percent. The main reason behind this to strengthen the 4G network and expansion of 5G network was the main reason for capital needs.