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In a dynamic month for India's telecommunications landscape, November 2023 saw Vodafone Idea grappling with a significant setback, losing 10.7 lakh subscribers. Contrastingly, industry leaders Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel demonstrated robust growth, welcoming 34.5 lakh and 17.5 lakh new subscribers, respectively, as reported by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The overall count of wireless subscribers across the country witnessed a marginal increase from 1,150.98 million in October to 1,154.17 million in November, translating to a modest monthly growth rate of 0.28%.
Delving into the wired broadband domain, Reliance Jio emerged as the undisputed leader in November 2023, boasting 10.15 million subscribers. Bharti Airtel secured the second spot with 7.28 million subscribers, while BSNL held 3.80 million. Noteworthy players Atria Convergence Technologies and Oneott Intertainment Limited captured 2.21 million and 1.14 million subscribers, respectively.
Turning to the wireless broadband sector, the frontrunners included Reliance Jio (455.82 million subscribers), Bharti Airtel (255.07 million), Vodafone Idea (126.63 million), BSNL (20.85 million), and Intech Online Pvt Ltd (0.24 million subscribers).
Urban and rural areas experienced divergent trends in wireless subscriptions during November. While urban areas witnessed a modest increase from 630.36 million in October to 630.72 million, rural regions demonstrated more pronounced growth from 520.62 million to 523.45 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates for urban and rural wireless subscriptions stood at 0.06% and 0.54%, respectively.
In the highly competitive wireless subscriber market, private access service providers maintained a dominant position, commanding a substantial 91.85% share. In contrast, PSU access service providers BSNL and MTNL collectively held a market share of 8.15%. November also saw 11.95 million subscribers initiating Mobile Number Portability (MNP) requests, bringing the cumulative MNP requests to 914.75 million since the inception of the service. The count of active wireless subscribers tallied at 1045.95 million.
An interesting facet emerged as all service areas, barring Assam, Kerala, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, J & K, and Odisha, witnessed positive growth in wireless subscribers during November. This underscores the dynamic nature of the Indian telecommunications landscape, marked by fluctuations in subscriber counts and the ongoing competition among major players.