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  • TRAI releases telecom subscription data for 30 September 2024

    TRAI releases telecom subscription data for 30 September 2024

    New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) unveiled its report on telecom subscription data as of 30 September 2024. The findings highlight trends across wireless and wireline segments, broadband subscriptions, and mobile number portability (MNP) requests, reflecting a dynamic yet challenging period for the sector.

    Decline in total subscribers

    India’s total telecom subscriber base saw a decline of 9.41 million in September, with numbers dropping from 1,200.07 million in August to 1,190.66 million. This translates to a monthly contraction of 0.78 per cent. Urban areas reported a slight dip in tele-density from 132.94 per cent to 131.86 per cent, while rural tele-density dropped from 59.05 per cent to 58.48 per cent. The declining figures underline challenges such as market saturation and migration of users to alternative communication platforms.

    Broadband subscriptions decreased by 0.51 per cent, from 949.21 million in August to 944.40 million in September. Mobile devices accounted for most of this decline, witnessing a contraction of 0.63 per cent. However, wired broadband and fixed wireless users showed growth, with increases of 1.83 per cent and 9.01 per cent, respectively. Reliance Jio retained its dominance with 477.94 million subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel (285.17 million) and Vodafone Idea (126.36 million). These top players collectively command 98.42 per cent of the broadband market, underscoring limited competition in this segment.

    Wireline subscribers on the rise

    The wireline segment emerged as a bright spot, growing by 1.93 per cent to reach 36.93 million subscribers. Urban areas accounted for 92.14 per cent of these connections, highlighting an urban-centric growth trajectory. BSNL and MTNL, despite being public-sector entities, maintained a combined market share of 23.95 per cent, showcasing resilience amidst stiff competition.

    The wireless segment faced a challenging month with a decline of 10.11 million subscribers, a 0.87 per cent drop. Urban and rural wireless subscriptions declined by 0.80 per cent and 0.95 per cent, respectively, as affordability and service reliability remained key issues. Bharti Airtel led the active wireless subscriber base with a remarkable 99.27 per cent activity rate on its Visitor Location Register (VLR).

    The MNP service recorded 13.32 million requests in September, raising the cumulative total to 1,039.11 million. Zone-I, encompassing Northern and Western India, saw Uttar Pradesh-East leading the pack with 100.56 million porting requests. In Zone-II, Madhya Pradesh topped the charts with 81.06 million requests, reflecting high user dissatisfaction or a quest for better services.

    Regional tele-density variations

    Tele-density across circles revealed stark disparities. Delhi boasted the highest tele-density at 278.55 per cent, while Bihar recorded the lowest at 56.40 per cent. This gap highlights persistent inequalities in telecom penetration across states.

    While the report signals challenges, particularly in the wireless and rural segments, it also hints at potential opportunities in wireline growth and broadband expansion. As operators strive to innovate and enhance service quality, the sector remains poised for a possible turnaround. 

  • TRAI releases telecom subscription data report for 31 July 2024

    TRAI releases telecom subscription data report for 31 July 2024

    Mumbai: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has published its telecom subscription data report for 31 July 2024. The report revealed that Reliance Jio experienced a decline of 0.7 million users, despite gaining 1.91 million in June. In contrast, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) saw a significant increase, adding 2.9 million users in July, benefiting from a period when its private competitors raised their tariffs.

    In June, BSNL had lost 0.74 million users, but the subsequent tariff hikes implemented by private operators prompted many users to switch. The three major private players—Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi)—all raised their prices in early July, with BSNL maintaining its existing rates.

    Airtel was particularly affected, losing 1.69 million subscribers in July after previously adding 1.25 million in June. Vi also faced a setback, losing 1.41 million users, although this was an improvement compared to its June loss of 0.86 million. Notably, Vi has experienced ongoing subscriber losses for over a year, until Airtel recently surpassed it.

    The tariff hikes, which occurred around 3-4 July, varied in magnitude; Airtel’s increases were smaller than Jio’s, which ranged from 12 to 25 per cent. These adjustments notably impacted Airtel’s 2G subscriber base, while Jio chose not to alter its pricing in that segment. Meanwhile, Vi has concentrated on offering unlimited data plans with various validity periods ranging from 28 days to a year.

  • TRAI reports 940 mn broadband users & telecom growth surge

    TRAI reports 940 mn broadband users & telecom growth surge

    Mumbai: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released its latest report on telecom subscription data as of 30 June 2024. The total number of broadband subscribers in India has reached 940.75 million, marking a steady increase with wireless broadband subscribers numbering 898.92 million and wireline broadband subscribers at 41.83 million. This represents a modest growth of 0.60 per cent in the broadband segment over the past month.

    In terms of telephone subscriptions, the country now has 1,205.64 million total subscribers, including both wireless and wireline connections. Urban areas account for 667.13 million of these subscribers, while rural areas contribute 538.51 million. The overall tele-density has seen a slight rise to 85.95 per cent from the previous month’s 85.87 per cent.

    Mobile number portability (MNP) statistics show that 11.84 million requests were recorded in June 2024, bringing the cumulative total since MNP’s introduction to 997.44 million. The highest volume of MNP requests were concentrated in Uttar Pradesh-East and Maharashtra, indicating significant consumer movement within the telecom sector.

    The number of active wireless subscribers, determined by the peak visitor location register (VLR), was 1,061.04 million for June 2024. This indicates that 90.65 per cent of the total wireless subscriber base was actively using their services.

    Among broadband service providers, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd leads with 488.94 million subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel Ltd. with 281.36 million and Vodafone Idea Ltd. with 127.82 million. The top five broadband providers collectively hold a dominant market share of 98.37 per cent.

    The wireline segment has seen a growth of 0.37 million subscribers, bringing the total to 35.11 million and raising the wireline tele-density to 2.50 per cent. Wireless subscribers have increased to 1,170.53 million, with a growth rate of 0.13 per cent for the month.

    In terms of market shares, private access service providers dominate the wireless segment with a market share of 92.51 per cent, while BSNL and MTNL together hold a 7.49 per cent share. In the wireline sector, PSUs account for 26.08 per cent of the market share as of June 2024.
     

  • Ramana Babu appointed as director of marketing by DoT

    Ramana Babu appointed as director of marketing by DoT

    Mumbai – According to the latest notification circular of DoT ( Department of Telecommunications), Ramana Babu appointed as director ( marketing) at ITI Ltd with immediate effect from 16 January 2024.

    Earlier he served as principal general manager at BSNL. Earlier Ramana Babu was appointed as Director (Marketing) of ITI Limited, a PSU under the Department of Telecommunications ( DoT).

  • BSNL focusing on increasing 20 per cent market share – Report

    BSNL focusing on increasing 20 per cent market share – Report

    Mumbai: As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) latest data, BSNL held lost market share in the country by year-end. According to media reports, BSNL is losing subscribers hence it is targeting 20 per cent of mobile subscribers in the country.

    The BSNL planned to roll out 4G services this year, also focusing on the quality of the network along with frequency and speed.

    According to media reports, BSNL chairman and managing director P K Purwar said, ‘ Company aims for 20 per cent subscribers is practically possible. It depends on the quality of our services and how fast we roll out 4 G, and 5 G services. Customers are looking forward to our 4 G services. People have trust in BSNL. We are upgrading our services.’

    In the last financial year, TRAI data highlighted the loss of subscribers of BSNL. Data specified by TRAI on 3 January indicate Jio and Airtel’s dominance in the market segment with 39.3 per cent and 32.85 per cent respectively. It is followed by Vodafone Idea at 19.6 per cent.

    BSNL planned to expand its telecom 4 G services on 1 Lac base transceiver stations. (BTSs). BSNL also has plans to roll out 5 G services in 2025.

    Recently IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav in the BSNL event also emphasised the growth of BSNL services saying, ‘In June and July this year, 4 G services will be expanded to 50000 towers.’

  • Jio loses 12.9 mn wireless subs in Dec ‘21, Airtel gains 0.47 mn: Trai

    Jio loses 12.9 mn wireless subs in Dec ‘21, Airtel gains 0.47 mn: Trai

    Mumbai: Reliance Jio lost as many as 12.9 million wireless subscribers in December 2021, according to subscription data provided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Vodafone Idea also lost 1.6 million subscribers.

    However, Bharti Airtel emerged as a clear winner in December, as it went on to add 0.47 million subscribers during the same period, along with BSNL, which also saw wireless subscriber additions of 1.16 million.

    The total number of wireless subscribers decreased from 1167.50 million to 1154.62 million. Wireless subscriptions in urban areas decreased from 638.46 million to 633.34 million while in rural areas it also decreased from 529.04 million to 521.28 million.

    As per Trai data, Reliance Jio had 364.34 million active wireless subscribers followed by Bharti Airtel at 348.69 million and Vodafone Idea with 229.45.  

    In December, Trai received information from 616 broadband operators compared to 592 operators in the previous month. The total broadband subscribers decreased from 801.60 million to 792.08 million.

    In the broadband segment, wired subscribers increased from 24.42 million to 26.43 million, mobile device users decreased from 775.93 million to 764.52 million and fixed wireless subscribers decreased from 1.26 million to 1.13 million. The top five broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm at 420.28 million followed by Bharti Airtel at 210.07 million, Vodafone Idea at 122.62 million, BSNL at 25.54 million and Atria Convergence at 2.01 million.

    The top five wired broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm at 4.57 million, Bharti Airtel at 4.20 million, BSNL at 4.07 million, Atria Convergence at 2.01 million and Hathway Cable and Datacom at 1.08 million. The top five wireless broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm at 415.72 million, Bharti Airtel at 205.87 million, Vodafone Idea at 122.14 million, BSNL at 21.47 million and Intech Online at 0.20 million.

    The number of telephone subscribers decreased from 1191.05 million to 1178.41 million. Urban telephone subscription decreased from 660.08 million to 655.20 million and rural subscription also decreased from 530.96 million to 523.21 million during the same period.

    During the period, wireline subscribers increased from 23.55 million to 23.79 million.

  • Vodafone loses 1.89 mn subs in Nov; Jio, Airtel post strong gains: Trai

    Vodafone loses 1.89 mn subs in Nov; Jio, Airtel post strong gains: Trai

    Mumbai: Reliance Jio added 2.01 million and Bharti Airtel added 1.31 million wireless subscribers in November 2021 according to subscription data by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Vodafone Idea lost 1.89 million subscribers during the same period, the data revealed.

    The total number of wireless subscribers increased from 1166.30 million to 1167.50 million with a net addition of 1.19 million subscribers. Wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 637.44 million to 638.46 million and in rural areas it increased from 528.86 million to 529.04 million.

    Trai reported 996.38 million active wireless subscribers out of which Reliance Jio had 359.59 million followed by Bharti Airtel at 347.89, Vodafone Idea at 231.59 million and BSNL at 56.71 million.

    In November, Trai received information from 592 operators as compared to 577 operators last month, the total broadband subscribers increased from 798.95 million to 801.60 million. This comprised mobile device users at 775.93 million, wired subscribers at 24.42 million and fixed wireless subscribers at 1.26 million.

    The top five wireless broadband service providers were Reliance Jio at 428.62 million, Bharti Airtel at 206.02 million, Vodafone Idea at 122.39 million, BSNL at 19.41 million and Tikona Infinet at 0.30 million subscribers.

    The top five wired broadband service providers were Reliance Jio at 4.34 million, BSNL at 4.20 million, Bharti Airtel at 4.08 million, Atria Convergence Technologies at 1.98 million and Hathway Cable and Datacom at 1.07 million subscribers.

    The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1189.62 million to 1191.05 million. Urban subscription increased from 658.83 million to 660.08 million and rural subscription increased from 530.79 million to 530.96 million. The number of wireline subscribers increased from 23.32 million to 23.55 million at the end of November.

  • Eros Now extends partnership with BSNL to cover postpaid customers

    Eros Now extends partnership with BSNL to cover postpaid customers

    Mumbai: Eros Now, the South Asian OTT entertainment platform owned by Eros STX Global Corp, has announced the extension of its partnership with the Indian state-owned telecommunications company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL). Eros Now had first partnered with BSNL in 2019 for its prepaid user base.

    As a part of this association, Eros Now’s content catalogue comprising over 12,000 film titles, premium originals, music videos, and short-form content will also be available to BSNL’s entire postpaid user base. The partnership with BSNL, which has a pan-India presence across all the 22 telecom circles in India, will serve the growing demand for content in different languages across the country, said the streaming platform in a statement on Thursday.

    “It is our constant endeavor to address the growing demand for premium content across markets and bolster the growth of the digital ecosystem. As we continue to entertain consumers across India, including smaller cities and towns, our ability to choose the right partner becomes critical, stated Eros Now CEO Ali Hussein. “No one covers India like BSNL and this partnership will give a massive boost to our reach in the Indian heartlands while giving users access to our premium content.”

    As per research by Digital TV, the language services market is growing exponentially. The global localisation industry has grown up to 40 per cent in the last three years, with OTT content localisation being the defining factor for this rapid growth. Eros Now offers content in multiple languages including Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, and Gujarati among others.

    “Digital media consumption has increased exponentially in the past few years,” said BSNL director –consumer mobility Sushil Kumar Mishra. “They prefer engaging content in their native language. I am excited for our users across India who will now have access to Eros Now’s massive library of premium content in various Indian languages.”

  • ARPU target 200; Indian mobile subscribers trudge along at Rs 94.87

    ARPU target 200; Indian mobile subscribers trudge along at Rs 94.87

    Mumbai: Indian mobile subscribers consumed 11.76 Gb of data on average per month and generated an average revenue per user (ARPU) of Rs 94.87 at the end of December 2020, according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

    At a press conference earlier this month, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal stressed the importance of hiking tariffs and bringing ARPUs to at least Rs 200 by the end of the financial year 2022, for the sustainable growth of the sector.

    ARPU per month has increased from Rs 74.88 in the year 2019 to Rs 94.87 in 2020 and minutes of usage has increased from 701 minutes to 759 minutes in the same period. ARPU for post-paid service customers decreased from Rs 259.02 to Rs 226.83 while for prepaid service customers, it increased from Rs 66.48 to Rs 88.37. The total gross revenue of the telecom sector has increased from Rs 2,43,702 crore to Rs 2,74,208 crore.

    Notably, revenues from data usage and calls have almost doubled. Revenue from data usage has increased from Rs 42.37 to Rs 81.81 whereas revenue from calls has grown from Rs 8.12 to Rs 17.72. Rental revenue has sharply declined from Rs 31.07 to Rs 0.95, as per TRAI.

    Mobile data usage has grown by 35.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY). The total revenue from wireless data usage increased from Rs 59,334 crore to Rs 113,156 crore with a yearly growth rate of 90.71 per cent. The ARPUs for wireless data usage alone increased from Rs 76.59 to Rs 128.61.

    Airtel reported ARPUs of Rs 121 at the end of December 2020 as per the company’s annual report. In their recent quarterly earnings report, the company disclosed that ARPUs had increased to Rs 146. On the other hand, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea reported ARPUs of Rs 138 and Rs 104, at the end of the fourth quarter for FY 2021.

    India’s ARPUs are the lowest in the world at $1.8 whereas countries like Brazil, China, EU and the US ARPUs stand at $4.6, $6.7, $12.1, and $37.8, respectively. Indian mobile customers consume more Gb of data than any of these countries (GSMA Intelligence Database, Sept 2020). While consumers get more benefits and value from unlimited voice and daily data allowances, compared to five years ago, India’s ARPUs are actually lower in comparison to historic trends.

    The ARPU erosion is due to telecom operators aggressively defending their subscriber base by selling heavily discounted voice plans with bundled data despite tremendous growth in the volume of voice and data usage in the last few years. There has been an industry-wide call to hike the floor prices which prevents telcos from undercutting each other across various services.

    Recently, the telecom players Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea took some solace as the government announced relief measures for the sector including a moratorium of four years on interest rates related to payment of AGR dues. It also announced 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector and made it easier to get clearance for tower installation.

    India’s wireless internet subscribers grew by 10.52 per cent YoY and wired internet subscribers grew by 14.07 per cent. The number of wireless internet subscribers grew from 696.36 million to 769.64 million, where wired internet subscribers grew from 22.39 million to 25.54 million in December 2020.

    The total number of internet subscribers grew to 795.18 million, with Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL having 51.6 per cent, 25.5 per cent, 17.3 per cent and 4.1 per cent of the market share, respectively.

  • Jio, Airtel add millions of mobile subscribers in June: TRAI

    Jio, Airtel add millions of mobile subscribers in June: TRAI

    Mumbai: Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel (including Tata Teleservices) added 5.4 million and 3.8 million mobile subscribers whereas Vodafone Idea lost 4.2 million subscribers, according to the latest subscription data shared by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Reliance Communications added 917 subscribers growing its subscriber base by 10 per cent, it showed.

    Total wireless subscribers increased from 1176.84 million to 1180.83 million at a monthly growth rate of 0.34 per cent. The number of active wireless subscribers stood at 984.79 million. Bharti Airtel had the maximum proportion of active subscribers at 343.71 million. Jio had 340.34 million and Vodafone Idea had 241.71 million active subscribers. Excluding Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, all service areas showed growth in wireless subscribers for the period.

    The number of telephone subscribers increased from 1198.50 million to 1202.57 million. Urban telephone subscriptions increased from 661.18 million to 666.10 million. However, rural telephone subscriptions decreased from 537.52 million to 536.47 million. The overall teledensity increased from 87.84 per cent to 88.07 per cent. The wireless teledensity increased from 86.25 per cent to 86.48 per cent, the data showed.

    As per reports received from 440 operators in the month of June, the number of broadband subscribers increased from 780.27 million to 792.78 million. The top five service providers constituted 98.77 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers. These service providers were Reliance Jio (439.91 million), Bharti Airtel (197.14 million), Vodafone Idea (121.42 million), BSNL (22.69 million), and Atria Convergence (1.91 million).

    The top five wired broadband service providers were BSNL (6.03 million), Bharti Airtel (3.37 million), Reliance Jio Infocomm (3.22 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (1.91 million), and Hathway Cable & Datacom (1.06 million).

    The top five wireless broadband subscribers were Reliance Jio Infocomm (436.69 million), Bharti Airtel (193.74 million), Vodafone Idea (121.41 million), BSNL (16.67 million), and Tikona Infinet (0.31 million).

    Wireline subscribers increased from 20.36 million to 21.66 million. The overall wireline teledensity increased from 1.49 per cent to 1.59 per cent. BSNL and MTNL held 48.72 per cent of the wireline market. BSNL added 1.1 million new wireline subscribers whereas Reliance Jio 0.1 million new wireline subscribers at the end of June.