In August, Jio topples BSNL to become the biggest fixed-line service provider 2022

In August, Jio topples BSNL to become the biggest fixed-line service provider

Among fixed-line service providers in the nation, Reliance Jio ousted government-run BSNL in August, according to a Trai report published on Tuesday.

In the country’s wireline market, this is the first time that a private operator has taken the top position.

As per Trai’s subscriber data for August, Jio’s wireline customer base reached 73.52 lakh, while BSNL’s reached 71.32 lakh.

In contrast to Jio, which only began offering wireline services three years ago, BSNL has been selling them for the past 22 years. From 2.56 crore in July to 2.59 crore in August, the number of wireline users in the nation increased.

Jio gained 2.62 lakh, new users, Bharti Airtel 1.19 lakh, Vodafone Idea (Vi) 4,202, and Tata Teleservices 3,769, all of which contributed to the private sector’s dominance in the growth.

A total of 15,734 and 13,395 wireline customers were lost in August by the state-run telecom companies MTNL and BSNL, respectively.

According to a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) study, the total number of telecom subscribers in the country increased slightly in August to 117.5 crores, with Jio adding the majority of the new subscribers and rural areas rising at a faster rate than urban centers.

As of August 22nd, there were 1,175.08 million telephone numbers in India, up from 1,173.66 million in July. This represents a monthly growth rate of 0.12%, according to Trai’s subscriber report for August 2022.

In urban areas, cell phone subscriptions increased by 0.10 percent, while in rural areas, they grew by 0.14 percent.

The only companies to add new mobile customers were Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. Vi, a debt-ridden company, was the biggest loser.

Reports indicate that Vi lost 19.58 lakh, mobile subscribers, BSNL lost 5.67 lakh, MTNL lost 470, and Reliance Communications lost 32 subscribers. From 80.74 crore in July to 81.39 crore in August, the number of broadband customers in the nation increased by 0.81 percent.

In August, 98.39% of all broadband subscribers were served by the top five service providers. According to the survey, Reliance Jio led the pack with 42.58 billion broadband customers, followed by Bharti Airtel with 22.39 billion, Vi with 12.31 billion, BSNL with 2.58 billion, and Atria Convergence with 21.3 lakh.

TRAI’s position: what does it say?

As a result of the same network being used for both fixed-line broadband and landline connections, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had previously expressed concern over the declining number of landlines in India. From 36.76 million connections in 2010 to 20.58 million connections by 2020, the number of landline connections was dominated by BSNL and MTNL.

Key points:

• Landline connections increased from 25.62 million in July to 25.97 million in August, according to figures from Trai released on Tuesday. Better connection strategies, the reopening of workplaces following the epidemic, and—most significantly—greater uptake of landline-based broadband connections have all been credited with this.
• Less than 2% of the nation’s 1.17 billion total telecom connections are landlines at the moment, though. At the end of August, BSNL and MTNL had a combined 37.4% of the landline market. Even now, Jio is the market leader in wireless.
• Reliance Jio expanded its mobile phone customer base by 3.2 million in August, solidifying its position as the market leader in wireless. 2.9 million new users and 0.4 million new customers were added to Jio’s user base in July and June, respectively, respectively, over the three months leading up to August.
• 0.3 million new subscribers joined the Sunil Mittal-run Bharti Airtel network in August. According to Trai data, it increased its subscriber base by 0.5 million in July and 0.7 million in June. With 1.9 million fewer subscribers in August than in July, Vodafone Idea, which came in third, continues to lose customers.

In August, the Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Jio overtook the competition as the largest landline service provider in the nation. Reliance Jio outperformed state-owned BSNL, the market leader up until that point, with 7.35 million landline connections as of August 31, as reported by the most recent data made available by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

With 2.6 million connections, MTNL came in third. The change is a turning point in India’s telecom history because fixed-line or landline connections were the only industry sector where a state-owned operator held the top position. Jio Fibre, which offered both landline and fiber-based broadband services, was launched by Reliance Jio in 2019 after the company had been trying to break into the market for a few years.

Edited by Prakriti Arora