RJio Becomes Second Largest Player In Terms of Subscriber Market

According to a new report by Mukesh Ambani- led Reliance Jio market share increased to 19.6 percent this year in July, surpassing both Vodafone India Limited (Vodafone) and Idea Cellular Limited, thereby becoming the second-largest player on a standalone basis.

On a month-on-month basis, the market share of Bharti Airtel Limited (Bharti) marginally declined to 29.8 percent in July (June 2018: 30.1 percent). Vodafone Idea Limited (Vodafone Idea) had a market share of 38.4 percent in July 2018. In July 2018, subscriber growth continued and was led by a rise in data subscriber. During the month, 10.6 million wireless subscribers were added, indicating a monthly growth rate of 0.9 percent. RJio added 11.8 million subscribers, led by the relaunch of RJio’s 4G feature phone, while other telcos reported flat subscriber growth. Aircel Cellular Limited (Aircel) has not reported subscriber numbers since April 2018.

Most of Aircel’s subscribers would have moved to other telcos due to the closure of its services, the firm said. The number of active wireless subscribers, based on peak visitor location register (VLR), declined 1.6 percent yoy to 1,006.3 million. The firm also pointed out that during the 12 months ended July 2018, RJio added 89 million VLR subscribers, while Vodafone added 10 million VLR subscribers. Bharti’s addition of 72 million VLR subscribers during the period includes the 33 million subscribers of Telenor.

In July 2018, the telecom industry’s VLR ratio remained stagnant at 87.0 percent on a month-on-month basis (June 2018: 87.3 percent; July 2017: 86.2 percent). While, broadband subscribers increased 48.0 percent yoy to 460.2 million, driven by low data prices, the relaunch of RJio’s 4G feature phone and better affordability of smartphones.

On a month-on-month basis, the broadband subscriber base increased by 13.0 million in July 2018. Through low-priced plans and high-speed data, RJio was able to attract new and existing wireless broadband subscribers and increase the related market share to 49.3 percent in July 2018 (July 2017: 41.4 percent). – Gizbot