Reliance Jio continued its robust expansion in the Indian telecom market, adding approximately 1.9 million mobile subscribers in September. This substantial growth strengthened its lead, according to recent reports by IIFL Capital and DAM Capital, which analyzed data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
In stark contrast, Bharti Airtel experienced its lowest monthly additions in recent months, securing only about 200,000 new mobile users. Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea faced a setback, losing around 300,000 subscribers during the same period. The overall Indian mobile subscriber base, excluding machine-to-machine (M2M) connections, grew by 2.2 million from August, reaching approximately 1.155 billion by the end of September. Other operators, including BSNL, collectively added about 500,000 subscribers.
Jio Leads in Active Users and Broadband Expansion
Beyond raw subscriber numbers, Jio also demonstrated a significant increase in active users, known as Visitor Location Register (VLR) subscribers. DAM Capital estimated that Jio added 1.3 million core VLR subscribers, while Airtel and Vodafone Idea saw declines of roughly 200,000 and 300,000, respectively. IIFL Capital noted that M2M connections are often included in reported VLR figures, complicating precise measurement of active subscriber changes.
Jio's dominance extended to the home broadband sector as well. In September, the company added approximately 420,000 new home broadband connections, comprising Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH), 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), and Unified Broadband Radio (UBR) FWA. This outpaced Airtel, which added about 160,000 connections during the month.
Fixed Wireless Access Market Share
By the end of September, Jio’s total home broadband subscriber base reached nearly 30 million, almost double Airtel's 15.6 million. Furthermore, Jio maintained a commanding position in India’s fixed wireless access (FWA) market, holding approximately 79 percent market share with 15.1 million connections. Despite these gains, both companies observed a slight slowdown in broadband additions compared to August, with Jio's additions falling from 500,000 to 420,000 and Airtel's from 260,000 to 160,000.