Telecom User Base Touches 1.18 Billion In August: TRAI

India’s telecom subscriber base reached 1.18 billion in August with Bharti Airtel commanding a majority of the market share. Sunil Mittal-driven Bharti Airtel had a market share of 29.64%, followed by billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio, which had a 20.50% pie as of August 31, 2018.

Vodafone India had 19.24% and Aditya Birla group’s Idea Cellular had 18.61% share of the total subscriber base, prior to their business amalgamation that created India’s largest telco.

Private sector service providers, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), held a cumulative market share of 89.97% while state-run BSNL and MTNL together had a market pie of only 10.03% as of August 31.

Jio, which commercially launched telecom services in September 2016, has added more than 250 million subscribers within 25 months of commencement of services, Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd, recently said.

With Vodafone India and Idea Cellular merger, displacing market leader Bharti Airtel to second position, the new entrant has become the third-largest telco in two years of its mega disruptive launch. Nearly 47 lakh consumers sought to switch between telcos in a month. – Gadgets Now