Telcos lose 7 mn active subscribers in April
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea lost active subscribers in a month, for the second such time in a decade, after losing subscribers in April 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown.
Telcos lost 7 million active subscribers in April, the sharpest decline in the past 10 months, due to SIM consolidation or users switching off second SIMs, sector watchers noted.
“In the past 10 years, this is only the second time when all operators have witnessed decline in active subscribers. A continuation of this trend could indicate sim- consolidation amidst rising tariffs,” analysts at Jeffries said in a note to clients following subscriber data released by the sector regulator.
While all operators witnessed active subscriber decline in April, Jio’s decline was the lowest at 0.1 million, while Bharti and VIL lost 3.1 a-nd 3.8 million active subscribers, respectively, according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India data for April issued on Thursday.
The sector’s reported subscriber base rose by 0.6 million in April led by Jio which added 1.7 million subscribers taking its base to 406 million and Bharti Airtel which added 0.8 million subscribers to take the total to 361 million. Vodafone Idea’s reported subscriber base declined by 1.6 million to 259 million. The number of active users of each of the telcos stood at 93% or 377.6 million for Jio, 98% or 353.7 million for Airtel, and 86% or 222.7 million for Vodafone Idea.
Overall, Jio’s subscriber addition momentum improved month-on-month, whereas Bharti’s strong momentum from earlier months seems to have slowed in April, said Navin Killa, managing director at UBS in a note on the sector.
The firm added that Jio remained the market leader, with a subscriber market share of 35.5%, which increased by 10 basis points on-month, followed by Bharti Airtel with a 31.6% share and flat additions on-month in April. Vodafone
Idea ended April with 22.7% share, down 10 basis points month-on-month.
Since March 2021, sector’s active subscriber additions have been modest at 20 million, but Jio has outperformed with 47 million subscriber additions vs Bharti’s 8 million, driven by the discount that Jio offers versus Bharti and Bharti’s sharp tariff hike in prepaid voice segment, analysts at Jeffries noted.
Jio gained 30bps market share in active subscribers, while Vodafone Idea and Bharti lost 20bps and 5bps market share, respectively.
With Jio’s inactive subscribers being steady at 24-27 million over February-April, analysts said Jio’s subscriber cleanup has ended, which could drive higher reported subscriber additions for Jio in the future.