Reliance Jio’s net addition of subscribers decelerating in November 2021 is a negative surprise, said ICICI Securities in a report. Jio added a net 1.1 million subscribers during the month, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report. Reliance Jio’s active subscriber base or VLR subscribers grew by 1.1 million to 359.9 million in November 2021 from 358.49 million in October 2021. ICICI Securities said that the deceleration of net subscriber addition by Jio looks weak considering the tariff hike from the company got implemented only on December 1, 2021. But the telco’s active subscriber market share grew to 36% while Bharti Airtel stood at 34.9% and Vodafone Idea’s market share fell to 23.2%.
Bharti Airtel Added More Active Subscribers Than Jio in November 2021 According to TRAI Data
In comparison, Bharti Airtel added more active subscribers than Jio in November 2021. Airtel added 1.8 million active subscribers. But as mentioned above, Jio still has the largest active subscriber market share in the industry. At the same time, Vodafone Idea’s active subscribers fell from 234.33 million in October 2021 to 231.59 million in November 2021. In terms of VLR or active subscriber percentage, Airtel still held the lead over Jio, Vodafone Idea, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) with 97.92% of its subscribers remaining active during the month. Jio, Vodafone Idea, and BSNL’s VLR subscriber percentage stood at 83.90%, 86.69%, and 50.10%. None of the telcos are even near the 90% mark when it comes to active users in their total subscriber base. This is where Airtel has always performed excellent which also helps its average revenue per user (ARPU) figure to remain the best in the country. ICICI Securities noted the flattish growth of subscriber base during the month on account of the rise of tariffs for 2G users who subscribed to the Rs 49 plan earlier but now had only the Rs 79 plan as its alternative with both Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel.
