Jio, Airtel drive telecom subscriber base growth to 120.5 cr in June

New Delhi: New customer additions by Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel pushed the Indian telecom subscriber base past 120.5 crore in June, according to a Trai report released on Tuesday.

The wireless subscriber base grew marginally to over 117 crore and wireline connections in the country increased to 3.51 crore in June from 116.89 crore and 3.47 crore, respectively, in May, as per data released in Trai's subscriber report for June.

Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel led the growth in both segments.

"The number of total telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,203.69 million at the end of May 2024 to 1,205.64 million at the end of June 2024, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.16 per cent," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in the report.

Reliance Jio added 19.11 lakh new wireless subscribers, while Bharti Airtel's net addition stood at 12.52 lakh during the month.

Loss of subscribers by Vodafone Idea (VIL), BSNL, MTNL, and Reliance Communications dragged down net addition in overall wireless segment to 15.73 lakh.

VIL lost 8.6 lakh subscribers, BSNL 7.25 lakh, MTNL 3,927, while RCom lost 2 wireless subscribers during the month.

In the wireline segment, Reliance Jio topped the chart with addition of 4.34 lakh new subscribers. It was followed by Airtel, which added 44,611 new subscribers, VIL 21,042, and VMIPL 13,996.

BSNL lost the maximum number of wireless customers in June. The company lost 60,644 subscribers. Quadrant lost 37,159 subscribers, Tata Teleservices 32,315, MTNL 6,218, and APSFL 829 subscribers.

Bharti Airtel led the machine-to-machine segment with 2.82 crore connections. It was followed by VIL with 1.45 crore connections, Jio 67.2 lakh, and BSNL 29.3 lakh subscribers.

The total broadband subscribers base in the country increased to 94 crore in June from 93.51 crore at the end of the previous month.

Jio led the broadband segment with a total customer base of 48.89 crore subscribers. It was followed by Bharti Airtel with 28.13 crore subscribers, VIL 12.78 crore, and BSNL 2.5 crore subscribers.