Jio added 4.2 million subscribers in Feb

MUMBAI: India's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio widened its mobile subscriber base to 414.9 million in February, with healthy addition of 4.2 million users, as it managed a comfortable lead in the market, according to TRAI data.

In fact, all three private operators Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea added subscribers during the month, as per TRAI.

Industry watchers attributed the strong market momentum to positive business sentiments prevailing in February, weeks before the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the nation.

As per sector regulator's data, Bharti Airtel logged 3.7 million net adds, taking its wireless user base in February to 348.3 million.

Notably, Vodafone Idea added 6.5 lakh users (after many months), as it expanded its user base to 282.6 million in February.

Overall, Jio topped net additions in February - the Mukesh Ambani-led company saw a healthy rebound in subscriber net adds at 4.2 million in February, higher than 1.9 million additions in January. Airtel's net adds in January had been 5.8 million.

As per subscriber data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday, the total wireless subscribers increased to 1,167.71 million at the end of February 2021, logging monthly growth rate of 0.72 per cent.

Wireless subscription in urban areas rose to 639.24 million at the end of February (633.27 million in January), while in rural areas wireless subscription increased to 528.47 million during the same period (from 526.15 million).