Fixed broadband connections have seen a surge in demand because of more and more people working from their homes. However, the number of subscribers added in November were slightly lower than what was estimated. Still, according to a Kotak Institutional Equities report citing Trai data, both Jio and Airtel saw ‘steady’ growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers. What’s interesting to see was the ‘slower than estimated’ growth in the number of total subscribers added even after internet service providers (ISP) introduced much lower entry-level plans — more details on the story ahead.
Jio Has 19 Lakh Subscribers Whereas Airtel Has 27 Lakh Subscribers
Jio added a total of 1.7 lakh new fixed broadband subscribers in November while Airtel only added 60,000 new subscribers. The pace for adding new subscribers is somewhat similar to the month of October 2020. Looking at the Trai report, the number of total fixed broadband subscribers in India in the month of November 2020 was 2.19 crore. It rose from 2.15 crore from the previous month of October. Compared to this, the number of total wireless broadband subscribers in the country grew from 71.26 crores in October to 71.95 crores in November 2020. According to the Trai data, the top five wireless broadband service providers in the country were Reliance Jio with 40.83 crore subscribers, Bharti Airtel with 33.46 crore subscribers, Vodafone Idea with 12.1 core subscribers, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) with 1.84 crore subscribers, and Tikona Infinite Ltd with 3.1 lakh subscribers only. When compared, Bharti Airtel added the maximum number of wireless broadband subscribers in the month of November 2020. In specific numbers, Airtel added 43.7 lakh wireless broadband subscribers, whereas Jio only added 19.3 lakh subscribers in the month.
Jio and Airtel Entry Level Broadband Plans
Jio offers its entry-level broadband plan worth Rs 399 whereas Airtel offers its entry-level broadband plan for Rs 499. Both the ISPs offer 3.3TB data to the users but the speed offered is different. Jio offers 30 Mbps speed to the users whereas Airtel offers 40 Mbps with its entry-level broadband plan. Another thing worth noting is that Airtel offers over-the-top (OTT) subscriptions with its plan whereas Jio doesn’t. With Airtel’s entry-level broadband plan, users get a free subscription of Airtel Xstream Premium, Wynk Music, and Shaw Academy along with other Airtel Thanks benefits. It is worthy to note that Airtel’s 3.3TB data is 3,333GB whereas Jio’s 3.3TB data is 3,300GB, a little lesser than Airtel. Which broadband service provider would prefer amongst Airtel or Jio and why? Leave your thoughts on the comments section below.
