Airtel regains some lost ground, Vi loses 4.3 mn users in June

Reliance Jio added 5.5 million subscribers to its network in June even as Bharti Airtel bounced back to gain 3.8 million users after losing 4.6 million the month before. Vodafone Idea, meanwhile, continued its losing streak by shedding another 4.3 million customers, according to the data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Monday.

Overall telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,198.50 million at the end of May to 1,202.57 million at the end of June, a monthly growth rate of 0.34 per cent.

Urban phone subscriptions rose 0.74 per cent, from 661.18 million from May to 666.10 million in June, while rural subscription contracted 0.16 per cent, from 537.32 million to 536.47 million.

The overall teledensity in India increased from 87.84 per cent to 88.07 per cent in June, with urban density rising 140.04 per cent to 140.86 per cent and rural falling from 60.22 per cent to 60.10 per cent.

The share of urban and rural subscribers in total was 55.39 per cent and 44.61 per cent, respectively, in June.

As of June 30, the private access service providers held 89.95 per cent market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 10.05 per cent.

During June, 12.27 million requests were received for mobile number portability (MNP). The cumulative MNP requests since its implementation increased from 593.61 million in May to 605.88 million in June.

The number of active wireless subscribers in May was 986.11 million.

Wireless subscribers fell from 1,183.11 million in April to 1,176.84 million in May, registering a monthly decline rate of 0.53 per cent.

Wireless subscription in urban areas declined 0.64 per cent — from 645.62 million in April to 641.48 million in May — and in rural areas, it fell 0.40 per cent — from 537.49 million to 535.36 million.